Amistad
Directed by Steven SpielbergIn 1839, the revolt of Mende captives aboard a Spanish owned ship causes a major controversy in the United States when the ship is captured off the coast of Long Island. The courts must decide whether the Mende are slaves or legally free.
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Amistad Ratings & Reviews
- RoboNovember 18, 2025A little white savior-y at the end, but still… an amazing movie.
- rr.rOctober 25, 2025Excellent movie. Steven Spielberg really captured the essence of that horrific time and the barbarity of the slave trade. Watching this movie in 2025 also shows how much we have now forgotten of that time and how it’s been reinvented through the modern lens.
- Patrick D.October 11, 2025I was pleasantly surprised. This is definitely an underrated movie. I don't consider movies hard to watch, but there's a portion of this movie that is just absolutely brutal. The pacing was questionable, and they really leaned into that 2nd act climax, but overall I think it was worth it to go the extra ~45 minutes for the stellar John Quincy Adams monologue. This film is actually fairly accurate as well. I'm not sure a lot of the other reviewers know what they're talking about. Obviously it was dramatized for movie purposes, but the story beats were actually spot on for the most part.
- ReggieflAugust 12, 2025Excellent movie, great dialog, and acting was first rate. Time lines may have been off a bit on a few things in ACTUAL history, but was a great movie either way.
- Kevin WardJuly 1, 2025As any true American will tell you, it is the independence of our courts that keep us free. I don’t think I had seen this since it first came out, so I didn’t remember much about it other than “Give us us Free!” Had totally forgotten that McConaughey was even in it, as a lawyer no less. Compelling drama, and star-making performance from Djimon Hounsou. For a film with an important historical account, I thought it was kind of funny that one of the final shots was a young Anna Paquin jumping on a bed (as Isabella II, the Queen of Spain).
Amistad Trivia
Amistad was released on December 25, 1997.
Amistad was directed by Steven Spielberg.
Amistad has a runtime of 2 hr 35 min.
Amistad was produced by Debbie Allen, Colin Wilson, Steven Spielberg.
The key characters in Amistad are Theodore Joadson (Morgan Freeman), Martin Van Buren (Nigel Hawthorne), John Quincy Adams (Anthony Hopkins).
Amistad is rated R.
Amistad is a Drama, History, Mystery film.
Amistad has an audience rating of 7.9 out of 10.