If the audience is already aware that the slaves were obtained illegally, then it takes away from the suspense of the film. The state of not knowing puts the audience right beside Baldwin trying to put together the puzzle pieces of the events that happened. .
Not only does Spielberg start the story in the middle, he also ends it before it is actually over. The audience wants to see a story with a happy ending, something that leaves them with a sense of fulfillment when the movie is over. Therefore, the movie is stopped at the high point of the story. Baldwin and Adams win the case in the Supreme Court and the Africans are freed to return home. Then the film transitions into a segment where they have a short text about what each character did with their life after the trial. Spielberg proceeds to show a text across the screen explaining how the Africans returned home to find their country in civil war. They also found that all of their relatives were either killed, or sold into slavery. Unsurprisingly Hollywood glossed over the truth to glorify the good guys winning over the bad guys and creates a feel good disposition from the movie. Douglas O. Linder supports this in Salvaging Amistad by stating "It is about at this point that Spielberg starts running with his artistic license. He puts words into the mouths of presidents and queens, invents a conflict between Lewis Tappan and the lawyers he hired, and misleads viewers into believing that there existed for weeks or months on end a serious question as to the continent of origin of the Amistad's black passengers.".
Instead of keeping the main focus of the movie on the actual legal issues of the case, Spielberg decided to deal with more of the emotions and relationships of the characters in the movie. The film portrays the great emotion and desire Baldwin has for the case. It also shows the anguish of the Africans and their struggles with adapting to being captive in a foreign land.
