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Amistad

Amistad

Member rating

17 reviews

Colonial courtroom drama following the saga of the slave rebellion aboard La Amistad, highlighting the horrors and responses to slavery.

Certificate15

Duration148 mins

Review by

  • Matthew, 15
  • 10 reviews

Review by Matthew, 15

3 stars

07 May 2012

This film is incredibly complex to watch and understand. Even though its storyline is predictable, it does have some very interesting turns of events that made you realise how far the worlds of law, morality and ethics have changed. It is centered around the true story of a group of captured slaves and the events that preceded around who 'owned' these people. The main character in this film is Matthew McConaughey who plays a lawyer who ends up representing the slaves. However at the start of the film he is seen calling the case as one about property law and completly disregards the slaves as people and thinks of them as objects. But as the plot continues his character develops to realise these slaves are people and begins to feel for them. Matthew McConaughey is particulary talented and convincing at playing his role. As are the rest of the cast, it is all outstanding acting! This film was directed by Steven Spielberg who is an incredibly famous director. He was very good at making the film as realistic and accurate as possible. However at some points the film got quite boring, which made me think that the film could have been edited better. But on the other side the setting of the film was very appropriate and suitable for the time period it was set in. The dialogue was also set for the time period which added to the realistic approch the film took. Overall I didn't love this film but I didn't hate it. It is old-fashioned and can be quite boring at times but I still enjoyed watching it.

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