Steven Spielberg's movie, Amistad,

Although Cinque is the main character of the movie, Spielberg noticeably doesn’t give enough credit to the rest of the Africans. The other Amistad Africans seem to be overshadowed by Cinque’s evident leader role, although many of them could be equally effective leaders. In the movie, Cinque explains that he doesn’t feel he deserves to lead his people and that he is only well respected because he inadvertently killed a lion that was threatening his town. “I’m not a big man, just a lucky one,” Cinque explains to Joadson. It should be noticed that important colleagues of Cinque are not even mentioned in the movie, such as Kale, “the boy, who has been in correspondence with Mr. John Quincy Adams.”

Not only has Spielberg neglected to mention certain characters, he has also created a fictional character of his own. Theodore Joadson, played by Morgan Freeman, has never been mentioned in historical accounts of the Amistad mutiny though he plays an important role in the movie. The most significant character alteration Spielberg has made is that of Attorney Roger S. Baldwin. “I dined at Mr. Baldwin’s with 8 or 10 others--Mrs. Baldwin is a daughter of old Roger Sherman,” writes Adams in his personal diary. Adams describes Baldwin as ‘old’ and in reality Baldwin is much older and definitely more revered than his young, working-class counterpart portrayed in the movie.

The mood of the movie is also inaccurate at times. For one thing, Spielberg neglects to emphasize that Connecticut was a slave state during the time of the Amistad case. “There are very few States in the Union where the slave population has increased in so rapid a ratio,” notes the New York Journal of Commerce, and a private correspondence of a pro-slavery newspaper noticed that “it is certain that, for some cause or other, [abolitionists] have been especially anxious to get their pupils out of our territory.” Obviously, the Africans would have a considerable disadvantage in the pro-slavery sentiments within the slave state of Connecticut.

One should also take note of the differences in the role of religion between the movie and historical evidence. There is historical evidence to support that the Mendi were exposed to many missionaries during their time in America, but the Mendi’s reaction to Christianity is portrayed differently. The movie affirms that the Mendi were exposed to many Christian ideas as demonstrated when Yamda and Cinque interpret the pictures of Jesus’ resurrection, but the movie stresses the religion of the Mendi and their belief in ancestors while historical evidence proves otherwise. “Send us home. Give us Missionary. We tell Mendi people Americans spoke truth...We tell them there is one god. You must worship him,” Kale writes to Adams.

Finally, certain factual aspects of the court cases are also faulty. The fundamental questions arising from the court case were all presented accurately, but a major treaty between Spain and Great Britain was not mentioned in the movie. This treaty stated, “the slave trade is prohibited to the subjects of each.” In fact, there was limited focus on the communication between Secretary of State Forsyth and the prepubescent Queen Isabella II of Spain in Spielberg’s adaptation of the Amistad issue.

Generally, Spielberg’s adaptation of the Amistad Mutiny and the subsequent controversial court cases were factually accurate. Certain representations of characters contradict evidence found in historical documents, but they serve to enhance the sympathy for the Africans. Likewise, Spielberg’s interpretation of religion and the emotional atmosphere of Connecticut oppose factual evidence but increase audience response to the atrocities of slavery by making the movie more dramatic. Nevertheless, Spielberg’s movie Amistad, achieves its purpose of encouraging popular interest in the history of slavery in America.

Bibliography:

Adams, John Quincy. Personal Diary. 17 Nov. 1840.

Adams, John Quincy. Personal Diary. 12 Dec. 1840.

Adams, John Quincy. Personal Diary. 29 Mar. 1841.

“The African Prisoners.” New York Commercial Advertiser. 28. Sept. 1839.

“The Africans.” Emancipator. 7 Nov. 1839.

“The Africans.” The New York Morning Herald. 13 Sept. 1839.

Amistad. Videotape. Dir. Steven Spielberg. Perf. Matthew McConaughey, Anthony Hopkins, Morgan Freeman, and Djimon Hounsou. Dreamworks, 1997.

“The Amistad Case.” Colored American. 26 Dec. 1840.

“Case of Ruiz and Montez – Atrocious Developments at New Haven.” New York Morning Herald. 23 Oct. 1839.

Chevalier de Argaiz. Letter to Mr. Forsyth. 29 Nov. 1839.

The Count of Ofalia, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Spain. Letter to John H. Eaton, United States Minister to Spain. 22 Feb. 1838.

Hone, Philip. Personal Diary. 31 Aug. 1839.

Hone, Philip. Personal Diary. 22 Oct. 1839.

Kale. Letter to John Quincy Adams. 4 Jan. 1841.

Kinna. Letter to John Quincy Adams. 4 Jan. 1841.

“The Long, Low Black Schooner.” Charleston Courier. 5 Sept. 1839.

“Mendis Perform.” New York Herald. 15 May 1841.

“Opinion of the Attorney General.” U.S. Congress. House. Africans Taken in the Amistad. 26th Congress., 1st Sess., 1840.

“Slavery in Connecticut.” New York Journal of Commerce. 5 Jan. 1841.

“Spanish View of the Amistad Case.” New York Journal of Commerce. 17 Sept. 1839.

“Suppressing the Slave Trade.” New York Morning Herald. 21 Oct. 1839.

“A Treaty with Great Britain.” The Public Statutes at Large of the United States of America, from the Organization of the Government in 1789 to March 3, 1845. 1848.

“The Trials.” Mystic Seaport Museum, Inc. 1997. 9 Mar. 2002. <http://amistad.mysticseaport.org/discovery/story/trials.html>.

“United States Should Not Interfere with Amistad Quarrel.” New York Morning Herald. 31 Oct. 1839.

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