Amistad (DVD, 1999, Widescreen)

Superbly acted, this movie reviews an historical event: the take over of a slave ship called Amistad by the "cargo" and the trial of the Africans which followed. It depicts a time in America before the cival war when slavery was still legal and gives insight into some of the efforts made by various groups to abolish the institution. Charged with insurrection and murder, the slaves are brilliantly defended by a young property lawyer played by Matthew McConaughey, who understands from the onset that the case can be tried as a simple property matter. Were the Africans free men or were they someone's property at the time of the insurrection? Were they murders or doing what any free men would do to escape who were kidnapped and held captive? Among the obstacles McConaughey's character faces in defending the Africans are communication with clients whose culture and language is entirely different, a political situation in an election year that results in the interference in the judiciary by the President of the U.S., and an explosive situation between the agricultural economy that depends on slavery in the South and the anti-slavery fervor or the North. Though John Quincy Adams (played by Anthony Hopkins) finally impressively argues their case before the Supreme Court, the ending has a heart rending twist, unexpected and realistic. This movie, in my opinion, should be viewed by every American as a treatise on the humanity of every person and as a lesson in the history of our constitution, judicial system, and the seperation of powers.

This is a movie of such profound impact that if you care about teaching your children about where America has been, and the trail of blood and tears it went through, this is a must see movie. People today think "Hogan's Heros" is what WWII was about, and are ignorant of History.

After seeing this on HBO I bought the DVD. For me....but for my children, to see that blacks were made slaves by blacks and sold to whites, who resold them...and that whites because of a sense of nobility finally was able to destroy slavery, at great cost to themselves.

If you are one who "sighs and crys over the detestible things of the Earth", this is a must have for your library, if only to remind you the great tyrannys over the mind and bodies of mankind.

Wonderful, monumental movie. Should have gotten several little gold men for best picture, best actor (Djimon Hounsou), best supporting actor(Freeman or Hopkins), best director?(SS has so many already), best costumes, sets etc. (very high, authentic production values), music was great (music from actual tribal background of the people in the story) but Williams has too many already also. 97 was a tough year for Oscars, lots of good stuff. Had to have for my EXCELLENCE collection. Also I am a histo-docu-drama nut. What a buy, unopened at 99 cents!

I liked the movie because it's based on facts. I recommended this excellent movie to watch as a part of a History class or to illustrate to our children our country history.

Spielberg picked an excellent topic, cast and supporting staff to introduce DreamWorks Pictures. Most notable was Anthony Hopkins, the music of John Williams and the story developed by David Franzoni. A minor critical note. It could have been shortened by 15 - 20 minutes without losing much, if any, of its impact.

Amazing movie...my belly was churning and turning throughout some parts...knowing that this was truth to those who's fate that was to become. Sadness, yet an immense amount of liberation at the end. Beautifully written scrip and amazing cinematography.
Highly recommended...13years old and up, in my opinion.

Great, intense movie....very sad story. Great acting on the part of Mathew M. and Anthony Hopkins as usual. I enjoyed watching it but had to fast forward through some of the rough stuff...couldn't stomach it. Please with the purchase.

It is masterfully done, a great movie. Not historically accurate to an extent,
but it gets the major points across. Eggheads will complain about accuracy, but it is a tremendously moving and educational work.

I only buy widescreen version of films. I like this movie and first saw it a long time ago. The price was great, the shipping was great and the movie was just in perfect shape....as promised.

My daughter needed this for her history class and we were very excited to find it on ebay.
Thank you very much,
Evelyn

The performances are still spell-binding! The story is compelling ... shocking even, when it comes to the treatment of the West Africans. I was riveted even after seeing this movie again, for a 2nd time.

Highly recommended!

I don't recall this movie ever being in my local theaters or seeing a review about it, so I rented it unwittingly on the strength of its fine cast. Although I'm a western historian reasonably well versed in overall U.S. history, I'd never heard or read of the Amistad incident, so it was with great interest and curiosity that I popped it into the VCR and hit "play." From the very first moment, the plot and characters drew me in and I was completely mesmerized. The smaller drama of a shipload of intended slaves fighting in the U.S. courts for their freedom playing out against the great internal debate of American agony over slaveholding--plus the enormous pleasure of watching several of the primary participants in that great debate over slavery--John C. Calhoun for the south, John Quincy Adams and Daniel Webster for the north, actually debate the issue, made this movie everything I could want in a film. Anthony Hopkins as John Quincy Adams plays one of the best roles of his career--forget Hannibal Lector, folks, Hopkins IS Adams in all his contrary glory in the last years of his life. Matthew McConeghy as the enslaved Africans' young lawyer plays one of the best roles of his career, and Djimon Honsou in the first role I'd ever seen him play, went immediately to the head of my list of favorite serious actors. The courtroom scene where Honsou rises and shouts "Free! Give me free! Free," moved me as few other movie scenes ever have. As in any plot, there are good guys and bad guys and several just out to make a buck, and the job of the judge to weed out all the claims to the cargo of the Amistad much have been extremely difficult even as we realize with a chill that the Amistad's cargo was human, a fact few of the men involved in the lawsuit seemed to acknowledge. It is extremely instructive today to look back on a time when the issues of slavery or freedom were much clearer and hear spoken some of the great points of a debate that led our country to reject the terrible human toll of slavery and attempt to put into practice our belief that all men are created equal. And, in John Quincy Adams' words, may our Civil War have been indeed the last battle of the American Revolution. This is a terrific film, a real sleeper!

I bought this movie for education reasons for my daughter. Because she had a lot of questions about slaves. This is a very good movie and very educational.

The movie has some slow parts, but it's an over all good film. Make sure you have your fast forward button handy!

A great movie. Interesting story, great acting by some new actors, and a few who have years of experience.
I teach history and use part of it in my classroom.

THIS FILM IS ABOUT SLAVES AND THE CONFLICT OVER THEM IN A TIME, WHEN SLAVERY WAS OK.WAR ,SLAVERY,WHO HAS THE POWER,AND THE ONES WHO WERE THE SLAVES JUST TRYING TO BE FREE,IN THEIR OWN LIFE.GREAT UNDERSTANDING MOVIE,OF A DIFFERENT TIME.

We purchased this for my teenage daughters' school project. She was able to get the review turned in on time thanks to the fast shipping.

If I didn't already have the movie I would look for it again. It was a very good movie that told a story that needed to be told. Emotionally it moved me at several points of movie to see what type of cruel treatment the Africans received, and the lack of human dignity they had. I believed that the film portrayed as close as possible the method of slave trading, and the abuses that took place when transported to America. I was very upset about the court procedures by the prosecuting attorneys not giving one iota of concern that the Africans could not understand a word that was being said to them, or what they were accused of. The prejudices were clearly visible from the whites, and the persons who were not black. I enjoyed the movie tremendously, and I look forward to seeing it again, and again.

The movie came as listed. It came in a good amount of time. I bought it for a friend & they absolutely loved it! Thank you, a happy customer.