Released 1997
Stars Morgan Freeman, Nigel Hawthorne, Anthony Hopkins, Djimon Hounsou, Matthew McConaughey, David Paymer, Pete Postlethwaite, Stellan Skarsgård
Directed by Steven Spielberg

Little-known saga of the Spanish slave ship La Amistad, whose "cargo" broke their chains in 1839--and wound up in a U.S. courtroom. Whether or not the slaves are cargo or free men is just one issue at stake--ultimately attracting the attention of ex-president John Quincy Adams (Hopkins). A good film that's frustratingly uneven: the slave ship scenes are wrenching (and unavoidably reminiscent of Spielberg's SCHINDLER'S LIST), and Adams' final summation is a showcase speech. But the film is long, and the dramatic gaps too many.

Summary by Leonard Maltin