Amistad
Amistad (1997) Director: Steven Spielberg Cast: Djimon Hounsou, Matthew McConaughey, Anthony Hopkins, Morgan Freeman, Stellan Skarsgård, Pete Postlethwaite, Chiwetel Ejiofor, David Paymer Writers: David Franzoni Synopsis: In 1839 a group of African slaves led by Cinque (Hounsou) escape and kill the crew of the Amistad, the ship transporting them from Cuba to the U.S. They are soon captured by the U.S. Navy and imprisoned as runaway slaves in Connecticut. The local abolitionist movement led by Mr. Tappan (Skarsgård) and Theodore Joadson (Freeman) enlist the help of a real estate lawyer, Roger Baldwin (McConaughey) to find a legal way to set the slaves free. Baldwin is successful in showing hat Cinque and his kin were not born on a plantation and, thus illegally acquired. However, in an effort to preserve a treaty with Spain and prevent a Civil War, John Forsyth (Paymer), the Secretary of State to President Martin Van Buren, takes the case...