Amistad lacks the detachment and rawness that made Schindler's List so powerful, but demonstrates Spielberg's ability as a masterful cinematic storyteller. It may occasionally feel manipulative in trying to wring emotions out of the audience, but Spielberg's gift is being able to do this and still leave a viewer utterly engrossed and emotionally involved in the story. He is helped here by a mesmerising performance by Hounsou - he is absolutely riveting in this film from the opening shot. The sequences aboard the slave ships standout as necessarily brutal and horrific moments that really can only capture a snapshot of the suffering so many people went through as a result of slavery, and here there is greater effort by Spielberg to let the images speak for themselves. The rest of the film struggles to match these moments but a great cast lead the audience through the court case that is intriguing throughout both in its impact on the central characters as well as it's wider historical significance.

Very important subject mishandled by Spielberg and given the Hollywood shine.

The opening scene was great, it grabbed my attention right away. The scene where they get taken slaves is brutal too. But besides those scenes this is a slow court drama and not a great one. The acting is pretty good but this is just too long and drags too much.