MOVIEmeter
Top 5000
Up 64 this week

Amistad (1997)

7.1
Your rating:
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 -/10 X  
Ratings: 7.1/10 from 39,988 users   Metascore: 63/100
Reviews: 199 user | 126 critic | 23 from Metacritic.com

About a 1839 mutiny aboard a slave ship that is traveling towards the northeastern coast of America. Much of the story involves a court-room drama about the free man who led the revolt.

Director:

Writer:

Watch Trailer
0Check in
0Share...

User Lists

Related lists from IMDb users

a list of 10000 titles created 3 months ago
 
a list of 60 titles created 11 months ago
 
a list of 924 titles created 28 Feb 2012
 
a list of 413 titles created 09 Jan 2012
 
a list of 23 titles created 26 Nov 2011
 

Connect with IMDb


Share this Rating

Title: Amistad (1997)

Amistad (1997) on IMDb 7.1/10

Want to share IMDb's rating on your own site? Use the HTML below.

Take The Quiz!

Test your knowledge of Amistad.
Nominated for 4 Oscars. Another 7 wins & 25 nominations. See more awards »

Videos

Photos

Learn more

People who liked this also liked... 

The Crucible (1996)
Drama | History
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 6.8/10 X  

A Salem woman accuses her ex-lover's wife of witchcraft.

Director: Nicholas Hytner
Stars: Daniel Day-Lewis, Winona Ryder, Paul Scofield
Bobby (2006)
Drama | History
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7/10 X  

The story of the assassination of U.S. Senator Robert F. Kennedy who was shot in the early morning hours of June 5, 1968 in the Ambassador Hotel in Los Angeles, and 22 people in the hotel whose lives were never the same.

Director: Emilio Estevez
Stars: Harry Belafonte, Anthony Hopkins, Demi Moore
Biography | Drama | History
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 8.1/10 X  

The story of King George VI of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, his impromptu ascension to the throne and the speech therapist who helped the unsure monarch become worthy of it.

Director: Tom Hooper
Stars: Colin Firth, Helena Bonham Carter, Derek Jacobi
Frost/Nixon (2008)
Drama | History
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.7/10 X  

A dramatic retelling of the post-Watergate television interviews between British talk-show host David Frost and former president Richard Nixon.

Director: Ron Howard
Stars: Frank Langella, Michael Sheen, Sam Rockwell
Drama | History
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.6/10 X  

Broadcast journalist Edward R. Murrow looks to bring down Senator Joseph McCarthy.

Director: George Clooney
Stars: Jeff Daniels, David Strathairn, Patricia Clarkson
12 Angry Men (1957)
Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 8.9/10 X  

A dissenting juror in a murder trial slowly manages to convince the others that the case is not as obviously clear as it seemed in court.

Director: Sidney Lumet
Stars: Martin Balsam, John Fiedler, Lee J. Cobb
Doubt I (2008)
Drama | Mystery
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.5/10 X  

A Catholic school principal questions a priest's ambiguous relationship with a troubled 12-year-old student.

Director: John Patrick Shanley
Stars: Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams
Drama
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 8.1/10 X  

A story of family, religion, hatred, oil and madness, focusing on a turn-of-the-century prospector in the early days of the business.

Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Stars: Daniel Day-Lewis, Martin Stringer, Paul Dano
Quiz Show (1994)
Drama | History
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.5/10 X  

Dick Goodwin discovers game shows are fixed: Charles Van Doren is fed answers so he beats Herbie Stempel.

Director: Robert Redford
Stars: John Turturro, Rob Morrow, Ralph Fiennes
JFK (1991)
Drama | History | Thriller
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 8/10 X  

A New Orleans DA discovers there's more to the Kennedy assassination than the official story.

Director: Oliver Stone
Stars: Kevin Costner, Jack Lemmon, Gary Oldman
Zodiac (2007)
Crime | Drama | Mystery
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.7/10 X  

A San Francisco cartoonist becomes an amateur detective obsessed with tracking down the Zodiac killer.

Director: David Fincher
Stars: Jake Gyllenhaal, Mark Ruffalo, Anthony Edwards
Drama | History
    1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 7.2/10 X  

The true story of a young journalist who fell from grace when it was found he had fabricated over half of his articles.

Director: Billy Ray
Stars: Hayden Christensen, Peter Sarsgaard, Chloë Sevigny
Edit

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
...
Theodore Joadson
...
...
...
Cinque
...
...
Secretary John Forsyth
...
...
...
Yamba
Abu Bakaar Fofanah ...
Fala
...
Queen Isabella
...
Calderon
...
Ensign Covey
...
Buakei
Geno Silva ...
Ruiz
Edit

Storyline

Amistad is the name of a slave ship traveling 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, who was a tribal leader in Africa, leads a mutiny and takes over the ship. They continue to sail, hoping to find help when they land. Instead, 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 makes an impassioned and eloquent plea for their release. Written by M Parkinson, Sarasota, FL, USA

Plot Summary | Plot Synopsis

Plot Keywords:

ship | mutiny | slave ship | africa | freedom | See more »

Taglines:

Freedom is not given. It is our right at birth. But there are some moments when it must be taken. See more »

Genres:

Drama | History | Mystery

Motion Picture Rating (MPAA)

Rated R for some scenes of strong brutal violence and some related nudity | See all certifications »

Parents Guide:

 »
Edit

Details

Country:

Language:

| |

Release Date:

10 December 1997 (USA)  »

Also Known As:

Amistad - Das Sklavenschiff  »

Filming Locations:

 »

Box Office

Budget:

$40,000,000 (estimated)

Opening Weekend:

$11,000,000 (Non-US) (6 March 1998)

Gross:

$44,175,394 (USA) (3 April 1998)
 »

Company Credits

Show detailed on  »

Technical Specs

Runtime:

Sound Mix:

| |

Color:

(Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1
See  »
Edit

Did You Know?

Trivia

President Van Buren and former President Adams find themselves on opposite ends of the court case in this film. In real life, Van Buren would later run for re-election in 1848 as a member of the Free Soil party, which opposed the expansion of slavery. His Vice-Presidential running mate was John Quincy Adams's son, Charles Francis Adams. See more »

Goofs

There is a scene where the men are shown lying on their bunks and their heads are all moving to the rocking motion of the ship. However, there is a chain hanging nearby that is not moving at all. This is because the ship was in port when this scene was filmed and someone out of view was leading all the actors to move their heads to give the impression that the ship was sailing on the high seas. See more »

Quotes

[first lines]
Ruiz: [to Pedro Montes] That one wants us to sail them back. That one thinks he can sail all the way back without us.
See more »

Crazy Credits

The events depicted did not historically occur at Fort El Morro See more »

Connections

Referenced in NewsRadio: Big Brother (1998) See more »

Soundtracks

"Andante From Quartet No. 2 In B Flat Major"
Written by Giovanni Battista Viotti
Performed by Quartetto Aira
Courtesy of Dynamic SRL.
See more »

Frequently Asked Questions

This FAQ is empty. Add the first question.

User Reviews

 
An amazing story of history and freedom
16 February 2008 | by (United States) – See all my reviews

While theatergoers in 1997 were being amazed by special effects on another ship, this magnificent story given to us by the master director Steven Spielberg gives us the true story of our country and what it means to be American.

We are not free as long as one of us is in chains. As John Quincy Adams (Anthony Hopkins) so eloquently put it, "...what are we to do with that embarrassing, annoying document, The Declaration of Independence? What of its conceits? "All men created equal," "inalienable rights," "life, liberty," and so on and so forth?" The Civil War was, indeed, the last battle of The American Revolution.

What a cast! You can search for Fool's Gold or you can watch Matthew McConaughey in her greatest performance as the lawyer who risked it all.

Djimon Hounsou may Never Back Down this year, as he certainly didn't in this film.

Morgan Freeman certainly knows about "Freedom: A History of Us" and he helped the Africans find theirs.

One of the very best films I have ever seen.


23 of 31 people found this review helpful.  Was this review helpful to you?

Message Boards

Recent Posts
Historically inaccurate and laughable film Epicureum
Most disturbing film ever? frogca
Why were Ruiz and Montez arrested for slave trading? Stirling00
Why Slaves? NewCliches
Justice Blackmun: how did Spielberg pull this one off? matthewparry
NEED HELP FINDING A MOVIE!!! handsome_b_wonderful92
Discuss Amistad (1997) on the IMDb message boards »

Contribute to This Page

Create a character page for:
?