The 1997 film Amistad was directed by Steven Spielberg and produced by Colin Wilson, Debbie Allen, and Steven Spielberg through DreamWorks SKG. The film was based off the mutiny aboard a Cuban slave ship, La Amistad, sailing towards America during 1839. Steven Spielberg does a satisfactory job balancing out historical accuracy and Hollywood cliches. The film begins with the main character Cinque, the tribal leader of the Mende, breaking free from his chains and setting free some of the other slaves on the ship, La Amistad. They begin to rebel against their captors, killing all except two Spaniards, Ruiz and Montez. They spare their lives so the two can sail them back to Africa. Without the Africans knowing, the ship officers sail them to America anyways and are then captured by the American Navy. There the slaves are thrown in jail for being runaway slaves and murder, while they await trial. A property lawyer, Roger Sherman Baldwin, takes their case, arguing that they were free citizens of another country in Africa and therefore illegally kidnapped. The case finally gets to the Supreme Court, where John Quincy Adams speaks on behalf of the Africans, eventually convincing the court to set them free. The slave fortress is destroyed and the Africans return back to their home. Although the film does an impressive job getting the main points of the event, there were still some important details missing and exaggerated on these events, the mutiny, the trial, and what happened after.
In the film, there are 51 Africans on La Amistad. The slaves were treated brutally, which is ironic because La Amistad actually means friendship in Spanish. The slaves on the ship break free and kill many of their captors on the ship as depicted in the film. They spare the lives of two Spaniards, Ruiz and Montez. The number of people murdered on the ship was definitely exaggerated for the sake of making the scene more dramatic.
