Amistad

Rating:
Summary: The Wrong Eyes
Review: I liked this movie, though it was uneven and more than a bit melodramatic. There were great performances in it by Morgan Freeman, Anthony Hopkins, and the actor who portrayed Cinque. The slave ship scenes were as brutal as they were beautiful, and that leads to the first of the film's two major problems. It seems that Spielberg, master storyteller, though he be, can only tell one kind of story--the neat, uplifting one. He makes even ugly seem beautiful, and thereby palatable. I don't want to overstate my point, but here it is: I did not feel the kind of ANGER or OUTRAGE that I, as an African American, should have upon viewing such a subject. The second problem is the film's point of view. Most reviewers have written that the film is done from the Africans' point of view. I disagree. The point of view is shared--at most. Here is a neat way to do a movie like this the next time a director gets the urge to, and then you'll understand my problem with Amistad's point of view: why not have the AFRICANS speak English and have the AMERICANS speak some sort of made up gibberish language? Then the viewer will have total empathy for the slaves and begin to get some inkling of what it must have been like to be stolen from your home and brought to this strange land in chains.

Rating:
Summary: only the children
Review: This film is not for those who are decidedly jaded. Best seen by 'children' whose passion for ideals are still alive and burning. Definitely not for those uncomfortable with emotions or those with issues with the past.

Rating:
Summary: Absorbing
Review: I applaud "Amistad"'s decision to tell its story from the point of view of the Africans. We see the United States, and the local politics, through their eyes -- chilly, contradictory, and often downright silly. Not enough can be said about Djimon Hounsou's screen presence. He dominates the film's opening and closing shots, and the overwhelming majority of the rest of the scenes.

The rest of the cast is a glorious assemblage. Dozens of veteran character actors are almost shoehorned into the piece, tripping over each other to steal the show. Arliss Howard, Austin Pendleton, and Harry Groener are all lurking in the background, for those who pay attention. The big-name stars, the faces on the movie poster, are also a draw: Anthony Hopkins, again playing a US President, is dazzling. Pete Postlethwaite fortunately gets ample time to strut his craft as the leering District Attorney.

I'm a little puzzled by the courtroom scenes, most notably the lengthy oral argument Hopkins gives before the Supreme Court. Granted, this film takes place in 1839, but the Court doesn't interrupt Hopkins once -- not a single question! Retired Justice Harry Blackmun appears on the bench, although he doesn't say a word.

Matthew McConaughey plays the standard Spielbergian lawyer. Unlike the poor fellow in "Jurassic Park", the attorney Baldwin is given time to grow and develop - but he's still played by Matthew McConaughey, so the character perhaps lacks some of the realism he so richly deserved. He says less in thousands of words than Postlethwaite does with one tilt of the head.

There's a lot in "Amistad" to appeal to moviegoers of all stripes. I don't think the movie was meant to be as powerful as "Schindler" -- the American politics are too one-dimensional, the political machinations almost done for laughs -- but for the most part it's a symphony of filmmaking and a movie to be seen more than just once.

Rating:
Summary: An Important Movie
Review: Whatever faults Amistad may have as an accurate representation of a real historical event, or from a purely dramatic standpoint, these faults pale into insignificance compared to the importance of the story in so many aspects. That all too many Americans all too often acted at best indifferently to slavery, and that many of their descendants (among whom I count myself) still seem not to understand the barbarism involved is truly shameful. Kudos to Spielberg and producer Debbie Allen for telling this story, kudos to the actors (especially Djimon Hounsou, Matthew McConaughey, and Anthony Hopkins) for their representations, but most importantly kudos to the actual heroes involved. Other critics have claimed that Spielberg has made the characters too stereotypical and one-dimensional--I don't find this an accurate criticism, given that the abolitionists have an argument when one of them says that the slaves would be more beneficial to their cause as martyrs; and given that John Quincy Adams does his best to avoid any involvement in the case at all. Indeed, I thought that the story, primarily a courtroom drama colored by politics and economics, rather than a swashbuckling tale of revolt at sea, was complex, sophisticated and beautifully told. True, there were a few moments when Spielberg let Hollywood run away with him. The most notable of these occurred when the swelling chorus and the lighting drowned the genuine feeling when Djimon Hounsou declares to the courts "Give Us Us Free!" in sickly-sweet sentiment. But in an age when the US Supreme Court seems to have given up any pretense of non-partisanship, and when so many politicians care less about what is morally right than what is economically profitable, Amistad is a movie that ought be required viewing.

As a composer, I have one major complaint: the music ("by" John Williams) seemed to me to be blatantly plagiarised from Aaron Copland, especially the opening of his ballet Billy the Kid. How Copland's estate allows this to happen I don't understand. Ironic in a movie about morality and ownership.

Rating:
Summary: NOT SPIELBERG'S CUP OF TEA
Review: One of the most repulsive opening scenes in recent memory.Even a great director like SPIELBERG can reach a low point sometimes.It's hard to imagine why STEVEN has chosen such a subject among all the projects he enconters.It's like a guy experimenting cocaine for the first time;he doesn't remember where he is or where is coming from.I at least enjoyed ANTHONY HOPKINS'S performance as ADAMS,but those boring courtroom scenes really made me look at my watch more than twice.This is a misfire to say the least.Avoid this film and don't make the mistake of buying it.This is a DVD for masochists only.

Rating:
Summary: ANOTHER INSTANT HISTORICAL CLASSIC!!!
Review: Director STEVEN SPIELBERG (AI: Artificial Intelligence, Saving Private Ryan) directs an all star cast including: DJIMON HOUNSOU, ANTHONY HOPKINS (Hannibal, The Edge), MATTHEW McCONAUGHEY (U-571, A Time To Kill), MORGAN FREEMAN (Along Came a Spider, Seven) and PETE POSTLETHWAITE in an instant classic: AMISTAD!

This extroadinary film is astonishingly good- although painful and sad at the same time! It is a complete heart throbbing drama from beginning to end! STEVEN SPIELBERG really knows how to give a message! The acting was stunningly superb! The music really is artfully crafted from famous music composer JOHN WILLIAMS (Jurassic Park, Saving Private Ryan). HOUNSOU's and HOPKINS' performances were extremely well done!

This film earned FOUR Academy Award Nominations including: 1. Best Supporting Actor (Hopkins) 2. Best Music 3. Best Costume Design 4. Best Cinematography

(I think it should have won BEST PICTURE- but I am still happy that FORREST GUMP won)

Siding With:

1. Braveheart, 2. Dances With Wolves, 3. Saving Private Ryan, 4. Schindler's List, 5. Glory, 6. The Green Mile, 7. Gladiator, 8. The Patriot, 9. Courage Under Fire, 10. Titanic, 11. U-571-----

AMISTAD is an excellent motion picture capturing emotional and inspirational drama that will really impact you! One of the great instant classics to add to the HISTORICAL CLASSICS list above!!!

OWN IT TODAY!

Rating:
Summary: A very weak film
Review: There is something cartoonish about Amistad. If social malefactors in real life had evil, cunning and opportunism so obviously stamped on their features, broad layers of the population would have no difficulty, as they do, in sorting out their friends from their enemies. Several processes seem to have been at work in producing this failed artistic result. No one has ever suggested, in the first place, that Spielberg was a profound thinker or an artist of unlimited talent. It is not the director's fault, naturally, but the phenomenal success of his films over the past two decades has undoubtedly been bound up with social and artistic processes of a rather retrograde character. As a result, almost all of Spielberg's films and the conceptions they embody are truly childish, not 'child-like'. But there is another critical element which must be added into the mix when considering the specific failings of Amistad: the truly deleterious impact of `political correctness' on artistic work. Nearly every aspect of the film reveals a desperation, a mania almost, to satisfy the strangle hold political correctness has over much of society. It is in this light that one has to view the film's extremely idealized portrayal of the Africans. The treatment of slavery itself as an historical phenomenon also suffers. Very little matter-of-fact analysis occurs in Amistad. The director is determined to focus the spectator's attention on the horrors of the situation at every moment for fear of being accused of insensitivity to the suffering of the slaves. Under those conditions, where events and people are depicted as they "should" have been and not as they were, the possibility of an objective historical accounting, as well as the possibility of the artist being honest with himself goes out the window. We are left with a stilted, distorted picture, arranged so as not to offend. The fact is, nothing but intellectual harm has come from the influence of political correctness. Amistad demonstrates this.

Rating:
Summary: Not a classic, but worth seeing
Review: "Amistad" is based on facts about a historical event in which a lot of blacks are kept hostage as slaves on a ship called La Amistad. Once the slaves reach the United States, they end up going to court to see whether they will be killed, sold as slaves, or returned to where they live. With the help of a good lawyer (Matthew McConaughey), President John Quincy Adams (Anthony Hopkins), and faith, the slaves, led by Cinque (Djimon Hounsou), might be slaves no more.

As soon as I saw the stellar cast that was in "Amistad" and that it was made by Steven Spielberg, I couldn't wait to see this movie. It is a good movie based on real historical events, but when compared to Steven Spielberg's previous masterpieces, "Amistad" isn't as good as it could've been. It's one of the very few Steven Spielberg movies that hasn't been dubbed as a classic by just about everyone that has seen the movie. But even though it might have come on one of Spielberg's off days, it's still a good movie. The best things about it are the good acting, its stellar cast, and its realistic approach to history. It also has a great speech by Anthony Hopkins toward the end of the movie.

I recommend anybody who likes movies that are based on history to at least watch "Amistad."

Rating:
Summary: Definitely worth seeing--nothing pleases everyone
Review: Real-life and real history are bafflingly complex; an insightful person observed that the line between good and evil isn't drawn between nations, classes, races, or political parties: it divides every human heart. Many of the reviewers disappointed by this movie apparently wanted it to tell every aspect of the history of slavery, with fairness to everyone. Other reviewers said it was already too long. Those who want different portrayals will find other movies, with different simplifications, that please them.

But why not watch it to appreciate the pain of history, repent, and become more motivated to struggle to heal a wounded world--rather than struggling to assign blame and excuse ourselves? We can recognize the line drawn through our own hearts, and struggle there.

I found Amistad's interpretation of history and racial politics unremarkable. Visually, Amistad has some very memorable scenes; but its soundtrack never contributes much. At points, it is cheesy. Simply put, the movie is not bad: worth seeing, moving at times, but probably not life-changing.

(One reviewer complained about the "noble savage" dancing and the apparently Islamic prayer in another scene. West African religion is pretty complex; it was portrayed without condescension.)

Rating:
Summary: Important Social-Issue Film
Review: This film is excellent. The criticisms surrounding the making of this film are baseless - do not pay them any heed when purchasing this movie. It is a perfect addition to the socially-conscious individual who cherishes feature film as a learning and teaching medium. This film is excellent