Amistad (a movie about slave rebellion)?

Question

Has anyone seen the movie Amistad? I watched it for extra credit. This movie really hit hard. It was powerful and dramatic. It really makes me wonder how anyone could be treated so harshly based on their rank of slave, or because they were different? I'm not basing this on just the blacks in slavery, but the Jews in the holocaust. The Asians during World War II. Anyone who has been discriminated or considered as property. It makes me mad that people throughout history have been judged and discriminated based on what others have done, or where they live. Even Cacausions. They are assumed to be racist and greedy businessment. Is it fair for even them to be judged as a whole? Any thoughts? If you haven't seen it you should. It is rated R and has scenes of violence and nudity. It may be hard to track down though.

Good point it wasn't really a slave rebellion. At the end they were pronounced by the supreme court as being free men and not slaves.

Yes, the movies alter what really happened to make it more dramatic, and present a dramitization of something that might have happened to get more money. But to even think that anything close to what happened existed, blows my mind. We'll never really know exactly what happened on slave ships, or ships transporting people to slaves, other than what we've seen on the television or from primary documents.

Answer 1

Yes, I watched it and it is a great movie to watch....sad but great. I find it really sad that people were judged throughout history and still today purely because they look different.

I am part white (NZ) and part black and recently watched the movie River Queen which is about the white settlers coming into NZ way back in 1860 and how the Maori's tried their hardest to stop them from taking over. Being part white NZ, it was really shocking to see what happened to the Maoris and how they were treated....my father was ashamed to be a branch off of those white colonists.

Then there's the 'Lost Children' in Australia....where the Aboriginal children were literally 'torn' away from their families during the 1920s (I think) and forced to live as slaves to white families, getting beaten, forced to wear the clothes of the British etc.

And of course as you say the horrific happenings of the Holocaust and what that crazed man Hitler did, and who could forget the fight to be recognised as equals by the blacks in the US.

Unfortunately, these things are still going on in this day and age and if you really look around, you may even see it happening in your own street. This is where people should be able to stand up and try to make a difference by becoming pro-active to the cause and to lobby for human rights for all.....I try to do my bit....I hope you watching Amistaad helps you to do your bit as well.

PEACE!!!

Answer 2

The whole thing about slavery and nation wide discrimination just hurts me inside. It has no point but to mentally empower the people doing it. Think about it, torture victims, Nazi war victims, Colored men and women slaves,--- All of their suffering just to some how mentally satisfy cowards. It sickens me and I feel maddened that those things ever happened---but they did,and all we can do now is look back at the mistakes and wrong doings of so many people, and make plans never to make such mistakes in the future, and follow those plans if a situation ever arises. I have not seen this movie, but I have seen a few movies and read books about that sort of thing. A very good one that I saw was from the eyes of the German young men and other people and the inside things that would happen in their homes. It was called Swing Kids, and it was the best movie about the holocaust I have ever seen, and the only one I would recommend to miners.(rated PG -13 and I would also recommend a parent to watch along with them.) I don't even reserch about african history because my fater used to talk about it too much and that would just give him more time to talk about "white peoples raceisem tward the black man." lets just say I don't need to be reminded about rantings. In closing, I simply hope we learned enough from the things we have done in the past so we don't have to make more mistakes to learn about later on. P.S. I hope it helped!

Answer 3

"Amistad" is one of those rare movies which teaches history and has a wonderful dramatic story to it too. Scenes in this movie will haunt you. The name "Amistad" was the name of a ship which took dry goods east and brought slaves from the African coast west. Sir Anthony Hopkins during the trial, has one of the great oratory's in screen history. One does not have to look into history for such deplorable situations as a peoples being enslaved. Many modern day countries subject their children to sewing plants or other types of labour, women are "sold" via a dowry and then disfigured, murdered or divorced to live in shame in other places. Children are rounded up for the sex industry, or militia. Men and their families are held "captive" in certain places as the result of loans. Human smugglers subject their patrons to conditions similar to those found on the Amistad. Does anyone remember in recent years stowaways aboard cargo freighters being thrown into the ocean to drown, or cast off in a makeshift raft without provisions? In some ways we have made strides since the days of the Amistad, and yet history continues to repeat itself only in different forms.

Answer 4

I would caution using a Hollywood movie as a source of history. Frequently the story is altered to make it more dramatic for movie viewers. Typically when history meets Hollywood, historic fact is the loser.

Answer 5

I did not view this movie as a slave rebellion. I saw it more as free men, maintaining their right for freedom. I do agree with your other views. People are always judged/ discriminated against everyday based on color, gender, religion, social status, nationality, intelligence,... the list goes on and on.