Amistad‚ directed by Steven Spielberg‚ displays the fierce determination of 53 African abductees and their compelling desire to return home. Led by Cinqué (or Sengbe)‚ a man longing to see his wife and son in Sierra Leone again‚ the men aboard the ship La Amistad rebelled against the Spanish slave traders who guarded them from escape. Using sugar cane knives stolen from cargo aboard the ship‚ the Africans defeated the gun-wielding Spaniards. With ambitions of returning to West Africa‚ they eventually
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The movie that I choose to review is Amistad. I think this movie would be very appropriate with our course and subject. Set in 1839‚ a group of Africans take over a Spanish slave ship: directed by Steven Spielberg. Two abolitionists‚ Lewis Tappan (Stellan Skarsgard) and Theodore Joadson (Morgan Freeman) hire a real estate attorney Roger Baldwin (Mathew McConaughey)‚ who is convinced he has the key to set African free. But pro-slavery President Martin Van Buren (Nigel Hawthorne) is on the
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Throughout the movie Amistad‚ directed by Steven Spielberg‚ conflict between Natural Law and Positive Law appears to be an underlying theme. The story is of a group of African slaves that effected a mutiny on their slave ship. After killing many Spaniards‚ the African slaves were then captured and put on trial. The story is based on a historical trial which took place in the United States during the years of 1939-1940. This trial ultimately became a very tricky political game between the North and
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certainly you can’t free your gun or your house. So how could you free a slave? It was pretty much a messed up way of thinking back then‚ but it was all they knew. People can and do change. Changes in how people thought was evident in the movie Amistad. Cinque the chosen spokesman for the Africans had a vivid real idea of freedom. He wanted to go home. It’s that simple. He had been taken by force from his home and family and place in a foreign place and was being held captive for something
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The excerpt from The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano‚ by Olaudah Equiano‚ touches upon the treatment and life of slaves in the West Indies. Through this short excerpt the reader learns about what he saw while he was a slave in the West Indies islands. Not only are there very few primary sources that have survived from the eighteenth century to modern day‚ but also there are hardly any sources that come from the viewpoint of a well-educated‚ free slave. When reading this excerpt
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Amistad Movie Review A film about history‚ set in 1839. When a slave ship illegally tries to transport 53 slaves from Africa to the east coast of the USA‚ the ship owner messes up. Two slaves are set to court to prove that they are from Africa. By this time period‚ slave transporting form Africa is illegal. This movie tells the tale of the African Cinque. He doesn’t speak English so proving himself proves difficult. Steven Spielberg really has made a masterpiece. Perfecting the language in this
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Amistad: My Story Everyone has a story. As we learned in the movie Amistad‚ everyone goes through something different that changes their lives and shapes them into the person that they are today. This event or happening that takes place can have many emotions: sad‚ joyful‚ mournful‚ happy or even none. It all depends on how we react and let it affect your life. A major part of my story‚ and what has shaped me into the person I am today‚ is my parents’ divorce. My parents’ divorce has changed
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REFLECTION PAPER ON THE MOVIE “AMISTAD” Amistad was based on the true story of a group of Africans that were kidnapped and sold as slaves. They revolted against their captors and win‚ but are later defeated by a group of Americans. Upon arrival for their “trial”‚ they are represented by an attorney who wins their case several times over but due to corruption and fear of civil war‚ they are constantly denied their victory until they finally win out at the supreme court as they were represented
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The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano by Olaudah Equiano and They’re made out of Meat by Terry Bisson are two very different narrative‚ but at the same time are still easily compared. The narrative of Equiano’s life tells the story of his experiences being taken by white men from his native country and sold into slavery. They’re made out of Meat is about aliens researching the human race. Just by these short descriptions one may think that the two narratives cannot be compared
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narratives “from The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano” by Olaudah Equiano and “from The Journal of the First Voyage to America” by Christopher Columbus are both journals about their life experiences. Equiano and Columbus had different encounters with the people they met‚ and used different imagery. Likewise‚ they both wrote for the same purpose. The impressions of the people they met were different. Equiano had a horrible encounter with the slave traders on the ship he was
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