As Good As It Gets

As somebody who had not heard any of this before, it became a curious phenomenon to sit and watch a film and slowly have the realities begin to click into place.

In truth, any opportunity to see the film on the big screen is welcome.

what a terribly boring film. I'm sorry but this is absolutely not deserving of best picture and will be forgotten quickly. Entertaining and engaging cinema? No. Nothing performances with flat faces and mistaking silence for subtlety.

Continuing my plan to watch every Steven Spielberg movie in order, I come to Amistad.I hold my hands up, and say I was totally wrong on this movie. It did nothing for me the first time I watched it. Yet, when I rewatched it I was blown away. It's not perfect, its historically inaccurate and Morgan Freeman is surprisingly under used. We get a lot of shots of him looking on, but not actually doing a lot. All the cast are great, and Spielberg knows how to tug on the heartstrings. Amistad was mostly ignored by cinemagoers upon its release the 50th highest grossing movie of 1997. With a $44 million dollar domestic gross.

I appreciate any movie that is willing to take an honest look at American slavery (I.E. not sugar-coat it with some revisionist "Gone With The Wind" BS), and if you're unfamiliar with the Amistad case, it's an interesting time in history. Anthony Hopkins's monologue at the climax is one of the best pieces of acting I've ever seen. My only rub is that all the courtroom stuff just seems to go on forever. I was a little disappointed that we saw so much of the white people arguing over the Africans and so little about the Africans themselves.That being said, the middle passage scene is the most heart-wrenching, realistic depiction probably ever shot. You can really understand just how horrific the experience must've been.Anyways, technically speaking, it's a great film. Check it out, but drink some coffee first, lest you fall asleep with all the courtroom jargon and "white savior" grandeur.

In 1839, a group of slaves aboard the Amistad, a Spanish ship sailing to the United States from Cuba revolted against their captors. Amistad, the movie, is based upon the true story of the group's journey from this point on. Within the opening minutes of the film, viewers are shown the awful conditions experienced on a slave ship. Immediately following is a gruesome, violent revolt warranted possibly by the treatment endured. Amongst the rebel slaves from Western Africa is a man named Cinque who emerges as the leader of the group before the film begins. It is him whose background is exposed around midway through the film in a successful attempt to further the idea that slavery is a terrible endeavor. Scenes of his kidnapping and experiences on slave ships expose the true cruelty that was shown toward slaves or slaves-to-be. One scene that was particularly unnerving was that of the systematic drowning of fifty people who were seen as no more than access cargo. The beating, starving, and killing of slaves who were deemed useless was not uncommon as depicted by the film.All is not grim for the Africans, however. They are supported by a number of important characters including president John Quincy Adams. In spite of the risks at hand because of the vehement feelings on either opposing sides of slavery, it is he who ultimately gives them freedom after it had been stripped of them on numerous occasions. Without the support of him, as well as others such as their lawyer Roger Sherman Baldwin, it would have been impossible for the Cinque and his group to return home. The conflict between those fighting for the Africans and those fighting to return them into slavery is symbolic of conflict that existed between abolitionists and slavery supporters. To conclude, Amistad is a film that rather accurately describes the case surrounding the ¨cargo¨ aboard the actual Amistad as well as the situation regarding slavery in the United States during this time.

In 1839 a group of 53 slaves are taken aboard a ship headed for America from Cuba. Cinque, a slave on the ship, leads the others in a violent rebellion. They take over the ship in a way that exposes the violence and the measures that they were willing to take in order to achieve freedom. When they arrive in America they immediately become prisoners while faced with an intense debate. Midway through this film viewers get a glimpse of Cinque's life before being taken into captivity. They show him with his family in his village to accentuate the true damaging effect of slavery. This movie serves to emphasize the pain and suffering that they went through physically, mentally, and emotionally.