Amistad is a 1997 American historical drama film directed by Steven Spielberg, based on the events in 1839 aboard the Spanish slave ship La Amistad, during which Mende tribesmen abducted for the slave trade managed to gain control of their captors' ship off the coast of Cuba, and the international legal battle that followed their capture by the Washington, a U.S. revenue cutter.

To avoid a diplomatic incident, President Martin Van Buren directs his Secretary of State John Forsyth to support the Spanish claim.

Moved by Cinqué's emotion, Judge Coglin rules that the Africans are to be released, and that Montes and Ruiz are to be arrested and charged with illegal slave-trading.

Fitzgerald orders the ship's cannon to destroy the fortress, and dictates a sardonic letter to Forsyth saying that he was correct — the infamous slave fort does not (now) exist.

In casting the role of Joseph Cinqué, Spielberg had strict requirements that the actor must have an impressive physical appearance, be able to command authority and be of West African descent.

Despite open auditions being held in London, Paris and Sierra Leone, the role remained unfilled with just nine weeks before filming was due to start.

Hounsou struggled to learn all his lines in Mende and resorted to phonetically reciting some of them, except for the most important scenes where he made sure to understand every word spoken.

Hounsou expressed that being restrained in real chains and shackles during filming was among the most challenging aspects of the movie, causing him to contemplate quitting on the first day.

[13] Prior to release, a legal battle ensued between Spielberg's DreamWorks Pictures and novelist Barbara Chase-Riboud; the latter claiming that specific details from her 1989 novel Echo of Lions were lifted for the screenplay.

[15] Professor Howard Jones's 1987 book Mutiny on the Amistad: The Saga of a Slave Revolt and Its Impact on American Abolition, Law, and Diplomacy was cited by the producers as one of numerous sources used for research during the script's development.

Incongruous as it may seem, it was perfectly possible in the nineteenth century to condemn the importation of slaves from Africa while simultaneously defending slavery and the flourishing slave trade within the United States... Amistad’s problems go far deeper than such anachronisms as President Martin Van Buren campaigning for re-election on a whistle-stop train tour (in 1840, candidates did not campaign), or people constantly talking about the impending Civil War, which lay 20 years in the future.

[17]Elmer P. Martin Jr. argued that the film missed an opportunity to mention contemporary events like the Creole case, a similar slave revolt on an American ship in 1841.

Martin noted that some antebellum abolitionists such as Frederick Douglass found it "strange and perverse" that some of the defenders of the Amistad slaves were willing to excuse the "similar traffic carried on with the same motives and purposes" in American waters.

Its consensus reads, "Heartfelt without resorting to preachiness, Amistad tells an important story with engaging sensitivity and absorbing skill.

[22] Susan Wloszczyna of USA Today summed up the feelings of many reviewers when she wrote, "as Spielberg vehicles go, Amistad — part mystery, action thriller, courtroom drama, even culture-clash comedy — lands between the disturbing lyricism of Schindler's List and the storybook artificiality of The Color Purple.

"[23] Roger Ebert awarded the film three out of four stars, writing: Amistad, like Spielberg's Schindler's List, is [...] about the ways good men try to work realistically within an evil system to spare a few of its victims.

[...] Schindler's List works better as narrative because it is about a risky deception, while Amistad is about the search for a truth that, if found, will be small consolation to the millions of existing slaves.

[24]In 2014, the movie was one of several discussed by Noah Berlatsky in The Atlantic in an article concerning white savior narratives in film, calling it "sanctimonious drivel.

[27] Amistad was nominated for Academy Awards in four categories: Best Supporting Actor (Anthony Hopkins), Best Original Dramatic Score (John Williams), Best Cinematography (Janusz Kamiński), and Best Costume Design (Ruth E.