The 90s marked the peak of the popularity of director Steven Spielberg, who produced what was at one time the most successful film ever with Jurassic Park and won his first Oscar with Schindler’s List. Between these two and Saving Private Ryan, however, a film appeared that is rarely looked back on. The historical drama Amistad (1997) received positive reviewsfeatures a few stars and newcomers at the time and is still overshadowed by the other works.
Today you can fill the Spielberg gap on TV.
The historical drama is about the uprising on a slave ship
Around 150 actors auditioned for the lead role, including Will Smith, as newspapers reported at the time. In the end, Spielberg chose a virtual unknown. Djimon Hounsou (Shazam), born in what is now Benin, took on the role of Cinqué, who was transported on a Spanish slave ship in inhumane conditions in 1839. Together with his fellow prisoners, Cinqué overpowers the crew, but is later arrested by American sailors.
The trial then takes place in the USA of all places. Although the Atlantic slave trade was banned, slave ownership is still permitted in parts of the United States. Roger Baldwin (Matthew McConaughey) appears as the defense attorney. Meanwhile, US President Martin Van Buren (Nigel Hawthorne) is pushing for a conviction to avoid a diplomatic incident.
So you can watch Amistad on TV and via stream tonight
The historical drama airs tonight on Pluto TV. The free, advertising-financed provider has our Moviepilot TV channel. Only films that do well in the Moviepilot community are shown here. With 6.8 out of 10 points, Amistad is one of them. The score is based on over 1,200 votes cast.
Amistad is on the live channel today, October 3rd, from 8:15 p.m Moviepilot TV with Pluto TVwithout subscription or additional costs. You can watch Pluto TV on your TV using the app or via stream, right here on Moviepilot.
Watch Amistad in the stream here today from 8:15 p.m.:
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Amistad is not a major Spielberg classic, but 2 sequences stand out
For long stretches, Amistad is a conventional courtroom drama, enhanced with guest appearances by the dignified Anthony Hopkins as ex-President John Quincy Adams. In the Spielberg canon, the film adaptation of a true story does not stand out despite its weighty subject matter and first-class cast. The film is definitely solid.
Great Spielberg moments Amistad still offers and there are (at least) two of them. On the one hand there is the start. In the first minutes, Cinqué unleashes the mutiny on the ship in the dark of the rainy night, illuminated only by occasional flashes of (violent) lightning. It is a brutal and almost mythically charged liberation of the enslaved people on board and one of the tougher sequences in Spielberg’s work.
When it comes to horror, he goes one better later when Cinqué describes the so-called Middle Passage in court, i.e. the path to enslavement and the forced journey from Africa to America. Images of unimaginable desperation and brutality follow one another in these minutes and are carried by Djimon Hounsou as narrator and witness. Amistad rightly marked the real start of his Hollywood career, which would lead via Gladiator, Blood Diamond, to Marvel and DC.