when I was in film school, there used to be classes that tackled the body of work of a prolific director. When I took it, I was lucky enough to land Alfred Hitchcock, so I’ve taken a class that was a full dive into the Cock. But, the semester before was Steven Spielberg, and perhaps I would not be here having to admit I never saw Amistad. Although, after having seen it, i can actually feel pretty good in saying it’s not in my top 10 for whatever year or crop of films it was against. Spielberg has heavy hitters, but he does have a list of serviceable films and this is that. I’m not sure he actually directs a bad film, rather just above average, and that’s where Amistad is aiming.

Mostly because this is the ultimate white savior film. Even the Oscar nominations it got to get it on my radar are gross. Anthony Hopkins over Djimon Honshu? Could you imagine if the Oscar nominees for 12 Years A Slave had been Michael Fassbender… and just that?

The movie is about a Portuguese slave trading ship that sees the captured Africans actually taking over the boat, killing most of their captors, and trying to figure out how to get back to where they were taken from. Two sailors on board betray them, and sail on to America, under the watchful eye of the captured, but sadly run into another ship close to America, and it becomes this whole discussion of property.

Djimon Hounsou is in his breakout performance here in a role that is largely not in English, yet he is able to speak volumes just through his voice, mannerisms, and presence. Spielberg does show a few of the other Africans, but mostly sticks to one as the de facto leader and voice of these kidnapped people.

Because of the time period, it almost has to be a white savior movie. Djimon does as much as he can until history says the film needs to move toward this historic court battle, but once he’s back in chains, it’s up to a ragtag group of mostly white men to save them. Morgan Freeman shows up as a man who runs his own newspaper, and Chiwetel Ejiofor is in a small role as a translator. A lot of this is on the shoulders of Matthew McConaughey, who does some really nice work here, along with familiar faces like Stellan Skarsgard. Nigel Hawthorne plays the villainous President of the United States (hah), and Hopkins sweeps in as John Adam’s.

And boy, do you feel like you’re in the presence of God every time Adam’s allows you his time, or Hopkins. Whichever person composer John Williams holds in reverence, because the score has a complete shift and tone, almost like a reverse Vader. Where Williams gave Vader his iconic moments in music, he gives Adam’s this oddly uplifting angelic music like he’s come down from the mount to grace us with his presence. It’s more of a turn off, since Adam’s has this wishy washy opinion on slavery at the beginning, and the score has already forgiven him for it. It doesn’t wait till his big speech at the end, he’s endowed as the ultimate white savior at the beginning.

If you want to watch John Adam’s: White Savior, this is for you. Spielberg did such an excellent job that Hopkins stole an Oscar nomination with nominal screen time over the more time consuming McConaughey, or the person who SHOULD be nominated, Djimon Hounsou.

I think when a director is on set, they think one thing is happening. Then, they have a chance to make better choices in the editing bay. But, ultimately, the public receives your art. And regardless of Spielberg’s intent, instead of shining a light on the atrocities of the slave trade, he aimed for a friendly PG-13, and the takeaway Oscar voters had was that the guy who was indifferent to slavery was the character we needed to nominate. Is it the only rousing speech? No. Is it the only emotional moment? No.

So, Spielberg tried something, and it misses the boat… proverbially.I can’t fault the acting here, even from names and actors I’m unfamiliar with. There isn’t a black actor in this film who didn’t give it their all, and since the pointer is at Djimon Hounsou, it hurts that much more that not even he could manage either a lead or supporting nomination. He could go either, depending on where you choose to campaign Matthew McConaghey, who is the only other actor who could be the lead.

For me, since the whole reason I’m doing this is to revisit past Oscar nominees, while I’m sure there are technical achievements in production and costume design, not nominating Djimon is a non starter for me. I’d rather this get fully snubbed, and it just feel like maybe they didn’t see it, than to know they saw it, and their takeaway was to give Anthony Hopkins just another nomination, this one he really did not earn. I love Hopkins, but I’d snatch this nomination from him faster than he could eat a liver with fa a beans.

I did watch this with audio description, and it truly felt like it had been done years ago, like Amistad has historical significance. We can do better for our kids than this, but the story is important, Djimon is excellent, and everything should have audio description.

Final Grade: B