This is a depressing ass movie. I'm not saying it's a bad movie, but it's not a feel-good, happy-ending movie either.Cinque (Djimon Honsou) leads a slave rebellion aboard the Cuban ship La Amistad. They leave a couple of crew members alive to navigate but end up being boarded by an American Navy patrol off the coast of New England. A major legal battle ensues over the rights and freedoms of the slaves, from a pair of abolitionists arguing for individual rights, the surviving Amistad crew members who claim the slaves as merchandise they paid for, the American crew claiming salvage rights, and the U.S. Secretary of State (David Paymer) arguing on behalf of the Queen of Spain (Anna Paquin). The abolitionists' lawyer, Robert Baldwin (Matthew McConaughey), tries to prove that the slaves were obtained illegally and should be released but language barriers and a whole host of opposition force the case all the way to the Supreme Court. Baldwin tries to lure the retired former President John Quincy Adams (Anthony Hopkins) out as a Hail Mary pass to present their case before the court.
This is a Spielberg film so expect a slow burn. It's almost two and a half hours of courtroom drama, human suffering, and Pete Postlethwaite being a total dickbag. Your mileage will vary, obviously, depending on how much you enjoy seeing those things. It does feature some stellar performances from Hopkins, Honsou, and Chiwetel Ejiofor. It's also based on a true story, so there's that.
If you are overwhelmed by the horrors of our current hellscape of institutionalized racism and headlong slide into fascism, maybe pace yourself with this movie. Watch a little bit at a time. Give yourself breaks. Watch something happy afterwards.
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