Review of Amistad (1997) by Spangle — 13 Aug 2016

Amistad is a masterfully crafted from the master of historical films, Steven Spielberg. With lavish costume design and a huge scope, Amistad is a mournful and moving look at one of the major battles before the Civil War came to be.

The film's entire cast, especially Djimon Hounsou, do a terrific job here. Spielberg also does a great job himself (obviously) at keeping us focused on what truly matters here: the human element. The violence and even the essence of slavery and the court case take a backseat to exploring who these people are and why it matters who they are.

Once we understand that, only then can we move into examining the impact of this case on history and the country. That said, Amistad is a bit of a slag at times. Though beautifully crafted with a good score from John Williams, it moves very slowly at times and as noticeably bad pacing.

Essentially, it uses its runtime quite poorly and is excessive in length. It could have cut some time off and still have been just as impactful. That said, Amistad is a good film from Spielberg, even if it suffers from pacing issues.