5.2 ~ #7

"Amistad" (1997)

From Netflix: "Steven Spielberg directed this story about the 1839 revolt aboard Spanish slave ship La Amistad and the uprising's tragic aftermath. An African-born slave (Djimon Hounsou) leads a mutiny against his brutal captors. Because the ship is in American waters, a U.S. court must decide the slaves' fate. In an eloquent courtroom speech, ex-president John Quincy Adams (Anthony Hopkins) argues for the Africans' freedom."

To be completely honest, I've been avoided watching this movie. I am very passionate about civil rights and have very strong feelings watching anything having to do with slavery, the civil rights movement, etc. and I was told this is the kind of movie that stirs emotion and makes the most stoic person cry. Well, I have a confession...I am a crier. So I was not looking forward to watching this film at ALL.

It's remarkable to hear how the characters address the slaves that the movie revolves around..."savages", "beasts of burden", "creatures of prey"..they are compared to livestock and heirlooms in one scene. It is so shameful to think that this country was founded in order to escape persecution, and yet every new group of people that has come to this land for exactly that purpose has been met with just that...persecution. Disgusting. Slights like this, I believe, are the reason that though I was born here, I do not consider myself an American but a child of Cubans. I don't wish to identify myself with a country that treats it's immigrants in such a manner just because I had the serendipity to be born here. I appreciate very many things about the liberties I'm given in this country, but as a result I appreciate more the struggles of the people that had to fight to make it this way. And we still have a LONG way to go...

But I digress...

The acting in this film is phenomal...Matthew McConaughey plays probably his best role ever, Anthony Hopkins and Morgan Freeman...well, they never disappoint, do they? And Djimon Hounsou is so beautiful and haunting in his role...he really makes you feel his desperation and his strength without words, just through his eyes. Amazing.

Wow. Saying I cried watching this movie would be an understatement. Sobbed intermitently through the last hour and a half is more like it. There was a full 8 minutes about an hour and 15 minutes in where I couldn't breathe because the sobs were coming so hard...

I don't know if I would watch this movie again. It was very hard to watch and remarkably sad to imagine that people had to go through exactly this. That being said, it is a beautifully made and remarkably acted movie that everyone should watch at least once, if only to appreciate it cinematically, but ideally to take away the story with you and let it be a part of you...because the fact is that if you live in America, this story, regardless of whether you've heard it or seen it, IS a part of you.

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The other movie for this week, "Apocalypse Now", had a "short wait" indicator on Netflix, so I will be watching it and reporting on it as soon as it's available...

For week 6:
#8: "As Good As It Gets"
#9: "Babe"
DOTW: "High: The True Tale of American Marijuana"