History Film / Amistad

** Martin Van Buren didn't campaign actively for re-election, let alone from the back of a train, as it was considered ungentlemanly for people to actively seek the presidency until near the end of the 19th century.[[note]](Ironically, Van Buren's rival at that year's election, UsefulNotes/WilliamHenryHarrison '''did''' do some actual campaigning for the presidency, though even then it was to a far more limited extent than what a modern-day candidate would do.)[[/note]]

* BittersweetEnding: Adams wins the case and Cinque and the other Africans are freed and return to Africa. The ending texts reveals Cinque's family was probably carried off into slavery, his people were in a civil war, and the one which Americans were dreading the case would lead to finally consumed them.

* VehicleTitle: The
* WhamLine

* TokenMinority: Theodore Joadson, the black abolitionist played by Creator/MorganFreeman, did not exist.
* VehicleTitle

* HollywoodHistory: Presidential candidates didn't campaign for votes at the time (it was considered highly unseemly), let alone from the backs of trains, and some aspects of the court case are altered for dramatic effect.

** President Martin Van Buren, though the film does show that he's effectively being blackmailed by John C. Calhoun into going to the lengths that he does.
** Lewis Tappan as well. After the appeal, Tappan says the Amistad Africans may be better off as martyrs, after which Joadson admonishes him as not caring about the slaves, but only about ending slavery. The real Tappan was famously known as an uncompromising anti-slavery extremist, who supported full legal rights (including gun ownership and voting) and advocated mass intermarriage to create a country without prejudice.

[[quoteright:250:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/1201867_2630.jpg]]

* AnachronismStew: {{Gustave Dore}}'s illustrated Bible is shown, but Doré was only 9 in 1841 and his Bible wouldn't be published until 1866.
* AntiVillain: It's shown in a couple of scenes that Van Buren's biggest fear was [[UsefulNotes/TheAmericanCivilWar civil war.]] Yes, he's worried about his own re-election campaign, but he's even more worried about keeping the peace.

* EtTuBrute: Cinque, the village chief, is sold to slavers by his own people (and possibly his wife). TruthInTelevision-most African slaves were sold to Europeans by other Africans, sometimes even their own people.

* IronicName: Amistad (the ship's name) means Friendship in Spanish.

* MadeASlave: After surviving the Middle Passage, several Africans aboard the ''La Amistad'' are taken ashore to be sold off at an auction in Cuba.

* PostMortemOneLiner / QuipToBlack: British navy captain Fitzgerald attempts to corroborate Cinque's testimony about a slave fortress in Sierra Leone, but Forsyth's lawyer counters that since they've never found it, it may not even exist. In the film's epilogue, the Royal Navy finally locates the fortress and blasts it into rubble, prompting Fitzgerald to start dictating a letter to Forsyth:
--> '''Fitzgerald:''' My dear Mr. Forsyth, it is my great pleasure to inform you that you are, in fact, correct. The slave fortress in Sierra Leone... ''does not exist.''

This had the first major film role for Creator/DjimonHounsou as Cinque, the leader of the slaves. It was also the second film for which Creator/AnthonyHopkins received an UsefulNotes/AcademyAward nomination for playing a U.S. president, having previously been nominated in 1995 for playing UsefulNotes/RichardNixon in ''Film/{{Nixon}}''.

* PostMortemOneLiner / QuipToBlack: British navy captain Fitzgerald attempts to corroborate Cinque's testimony about a slave fortress in Sierra Leone, but Forsyth's lawyer counters that since they've never found it, it may not even exist. In the film's epilogue, the Royal Navy finally locates the fortress and blasts it into rubble.
--> '''Fitzgerald:''' Take a letter, Ensign. "To His Honor, the United States Secretary of State, Mr. John Forsyth. My dear Mr. Forsyth, it is my great pleasure to inform you that you are, in fact, correct. The slave fortress in Sierra Leone... ''does not exist.''"

* InfantImmortality: {{Averted}}. A girl drowns herself with a baby in her arms during the Middle Passage scene.

** The District Attorney notes that the Mende also own slaves, and have for centuries, as a means of countering the arguments made against slavery. John Covey, the translator, points out Mende "slaves" were more like [[IndenturedServitude indentured servants]], but in any case this is irrelevant with regards to the law. It amounts to a [[AdHominem tu quoque]] aimed against anti-slavery sentiment.

This was the first major film role for Creator/DjimonHounsou as Cinque, the leader of the slaves. It was also the second film for which Creator/AnthonyHopkins received an UsefulNotes/AcademyAward nomination for playing a U.S. president, having previously been nominated in 1995 for playing UsefulNotes/RichardNixon in ''Film/{{Nixon}}''.

This was the second film for which Creator/AnthonyHopkins received an UsefulNotes/AcademyAward nomination for playing a U.S. president, having previously been nominated in 1995 for playing UsefulNotes/RichardNixon in ''Film/{{Nixon}}''.

* NotSoDifferent: The District Attorney notes that the Mende also own slaves, and have for centuries, as a means of countering the arguments made against slavery. John Covey, the translator, points out Mende "slaves" were more like [[IndenturedServitude indentured servants]], but in any case this is irrelevant with regards to the law. It amounts to a [[AdHominem tu quoque]] aimed against anti-slavery sentiment in favor of the Africans.

* AnachronismStew: {{Creator/GustaveDore}}'s illustrated Bible is shown, but Doré was only 9 in 1841 and his Bible wouldn't be published until 1866.

* HistoricalVillainUpgrade: President Martin Van Buren, though the film does show that he's effectively being blackmailed by John C. Calhoun into going to the lengths that he does.

* NotSoDifferent: The District Attorney notes that the Mende also own slaves, and have for centuries, as a means of countering the arguments made against slavery. John Covey, the translator, points out Mende slaves were more like indentured servants, but in any case this is irrelevant with regards to the law. It amounts to a [[AdHominem tu quoque]] aimed against anti-slavery sentiment in favor of the Africans.

''Amistad'' is a 1997 Creator/StevenSpielberg film based on the true story of a slave mutiny that took place aboard a ship of the same name in 1839, and the legal battle that followed. It shows how, even though the case was won at the federal district court level, it was appealed by President UsefulNotes/MartinVanBuren to the Supreme Court, and how former President UsefulNotes/JohnQuincyAdams took part in the proceedings.

* AnachronismStew: Creator/GustaveDore 's illustrated Bible is shown, but Doré was only 9 in 1841 and his Bible wouldn't be published until 1866.

* BittersweetEnding: Adams wins the case and Cinque and the other Africans are freed and return to Africa. The ending texts reveals Cinque's family were probably carried off into slavery, his people were in a civil war, and the one which Americans were dreading the case would lead to finally consumed them.

* TheDogBitesBack: The slaves rise up and kill the slavers.
* DrivenToSuicide: During the Middle Passage sequence, a slave girl dives off from the ship with a baby in her arms, preferring death than endure suffering aboard at the slavers' hands.

** Lewis Tappan as well. After the appeal, Tappan says the Amistad Africans may be better off as martyrs, after which Joadson admonishes him as not caring about the slaves, but only about ending slavery. The real Tappan was famously known as an uncompromising anti-slavery extremist, who supported full rights (including gun ownership and voting) and advocated mass intermarriage to create a country without prejudice.

* InfantImmortality: Averted. A girl drowns herself with a baby in her arms during the Middle Passage scene.

* ItWillNeverCatchOn: Adams' first appearance is during a session of the House to determine whether or not to honor an old man's request that his possessions form an institute of national treasure. The representative addressing Adams dismisses the collection as "bunch of junk". The old man? James Smithson, founding donor of the Smithsonian Institution.

* RoyalBrat: 10-years old Queen Isabel II of Spain (the fact that her mother was regent and the actual head of state at the time is omitted under the RuleOfFunny).

* TheStoic: Captain Fitzgerald. In a really awesome badass way.

* DaylightHorror: The scene where the slaves are tossed overboard to drown during the middle passage.

* HorrorInBroadDaylight: The scene where the slaves are tossed overboard to drown during the middle passage.

* TheSpock: Captain Fitzgerald

* DeadpanSnarker: Captain Fitzgerald has great moments both on the witness stand and after coolly supervising the destruction of the Lomboko slave fortress.