In 1839, the revolt of Mende captives aboard a Spanish owned ship causes a major controversy in the United States when the ship is captured off the coast of Long Island. The courts must decide whether the Mende are slaves or legally free.
Amistad is the name of a slave ship travelling from Cuba to the U.S. in 1839. It is carrying a cargo of Africans who have been sold into slavery in Cuba, taken on board, and chained in the cargo hold of the ship. As the ship is crossing from Cuba to the U.S., Cinque (Djimon Hounsou), who was a tribal leader in Africa, takes over the ship. They continue to sail, hoping to find their way back to Africa. Instead, they are misdirected and when they reach the United States, they are imprisoned as runaway slaves. They don't speak a word of English, and it seems like they are doomed to die for killing their captors when an abolitionist lawyer decides to take their case, arguing that they were free citizens of another country and not slaves at all. The case finally gets to the Supreme Court, where John Quincy Adams (Sir Anthony Hopkins) makes an impassioned and eloquent plea for their release.—M Parkinson, Sarasota, FL, USA
Based on the true story of a significant moment during America's slave trade in 1839, aboard the slave ship, Amistad. Much of the story revolves a courtroom drama as lawyers for the slaves seek their freedom and return home. The case is a watershed moment for America-Spain relations, and reveals the political machinations as it holds repercussions on the North-South conflict eventually leading to America's Civil War.—F.Maggi, Rome Italy
The schooner La Amistad is carrying Africans captured from Sierra Leone and sold in Cuba into slavery. One of the slaves, Sengbe Pieh, most known by his slave name "Cinque", initiates a rebellion on the ship. Most of the crew are killed. The Africans keep the ship's owners alive, believing they can navigate the vessel back to West Africa.
Six weeks later, the vessel is low on food and fresh water when they sight land. Unsure of their location, a group take a boat to shore to fetch fresh water. La Amistad is found by a United States military vessel; the Spaniards tricked the Africans, sailing up the Atlantic coast. Amistad is impounded. The Africans are imprisoned while a court determines ownership of the vessel and whether the slaves will be freed. Great Britain, the United States and Spain have prohibited the international slave trade, but the Spanish owners claim the slaves were born on a Cuban plantation and are thus legal domestic slaves.
In Washington, D.C., John Quincy Adams, former President and sitting member of the U.S. House of Representatives from Massachusetts, meets leading abolitionists Theodore Joadson, a freed slave, and activist Lewis Tappan. Intent on gaining the Amistad Africans' freedom, the men seek Adams' help with the court case. Adams claims he neither condemns nor condones slavery.
The current President of the United States, Martin Van Buren, is under pressure by Spanish Queen Isabella II, who demands compensation for the ship and the market value of the slaves. At a preliminary hearing, the Africans are charged with "insurrection on the high seas". The case has conflicting claims of property ownership by Spain, the United States, the Spanish owners of the slaves and of La Amistad, and the American captain and first mate of the US vessel that took the ship into custody, as laws of the sea entitle them to salvage rights, including the slaves. The abolitionists enlist the help of an attorney specializing in property law: Roger Sherman Baldwin (Matthew McConaughey).
Baldwin and the abolitionists, along with Josiah Willard Gibbs, Sr., a professor of linguistics, try speaking with the Amistad Africans, but neither side can comprehend the other. As the hearings drag on, Baldwin and Joadson approach Adams for advice. Adams advises them that, in court, the side with the best story usually wins. Unable to tell Adams what their story is, they realize it is imperative they communicate with the Africans. At the city docks they find a black sailor in the Royal Navy, James Covey, who speaks an African language.
Using Covey as a translator, Baldwin and his companions speak with Cinque. He is allowed to give his account, through Covey, in the courtroom. Cinque claims that he was a farmer and family man, kidnapped by slave-hunters and taken to Lomboko, an illegal slave facility in Sierra Leone. He and hundreds of other captured Africans were loaded onto the transatlantic slave-ship Tecora. Upon arriving in Cuba, Cinque was sold at a slave market and purchased by the owners of La Amistad.District Attorney William S. Holabird and Secretary of State John Forsyth press their case for respecting property rights, dismissing Cinque's story as fiction. While exploring La Amistad for evidence, Baldwin finds a notebook that gives accounts of their illegal slave-trading.
Presenting the notebook as evidence, Baldwin calls expert witnesses, including Captain Fitzgerald, a British naval officer assigned to patrol the West African coastline to enforce the British Empire's anti-slavery policies. Judge Coglin dismisses all claims of ownership of the Africans. He orders the arrest of the Amistad's owners and authorizes the United States to convey the Amistad Africans back to Africa.
Speaking with the Spanish Ambassador to Washington, Senator John C. Calhoun from South Carolina attacks President Van Buren; stressing the economic importance of slaves in the South, Calhoun suggests that if the government frees the Amistad Africans the South will go to war. President Van Buren orders the case appealed to the US Supreme Court, which is dominated by Southern slaveholder justices.
Joadson and Baldwin break the news to Cinque. Needing a knowledgeable ally, Baldwin and Joadson meet again with John Quincy Adams. Aware that Cinque refuses to talk to Baldwin, Adams invites Cinque to his home. After speaking with him, Adams decides to assist the case.At the Supreme Court, John Quincy Adams passionately defends the Africans. The court authorizes the release of the Africans and their transportation to Africa, if they so wish. Cinque bids farewell to his American companions.
British Royal Marines assault the Lomboko Slave Fortress, freeing Africans from its dungeons. With the fortress evacuated, Captain Fitzgerald orders it destroyed. Van Buren loses his re-election campaign. Cinque and his fellow Africans return to Sierra Leone accompanied by James Covey. Cinque finds his country in civil war and his wife and child missing, likely sold into slavery.
