Amistad

Freeman, Morgan, (actor.). Hawthorne, Nigel, (actor.). Hopkins, Anthony, 1937- (actor.). Hounsou, Djimon, 1964- (actor.). McConaughey, Matthew, 1969- (actor.). Spielberg, Steven, 1946- (film director.). Paramount Pictures Corporation, (production company.). Criterion-on-Demand (Firm), (film distributor.). Morgan Freeman, Anthony Hopkins, Djimon Hounsou, Matthew McConaughey, Nigel Hawthorne. (Cast).

Summary: Based on a true story, "Amistad" is the saga of a failed mutiny on board a Spanish slave ship and the trial that followed. In the summer of 1839, fifty-three African captives, led by Cinque (Djimon Hounsou), broke free and took over the slave ship Amistad. Captured off the eastern seaboard after failing in a desperate attempt to sail home, they find themselves strangers in a strange land and at the mercy of the American justice system. Fighting for the Africans are abolitionist Theodore Joadson (Morgan Freeman) and young lawyer Roger Baldwin (Matthew McConaughey). However, seeking re-election, President Martin Van Buren (Nigel Hawthorne) is willing to sacrifice the Africans to appease the pro-slavery South. The case takes on historic proportions when former President John Quincy Adams (Anthony Hopkins) comes out of retirement to take the Africans' cause all the way to the United States Supreme Court in a trial that challenges the very foundation of the American legal system.

Record details

Physical Description: 1 streaming video file (155 min.) : digital, sound, color
remote
Publisher: [United States] : Paramount Pictures, [2013]
Distributor: [Vaughan, Ontario] : Criterion Pictures, [date of distribution not identified]
Copyright: ♭2013

Content descriptions

General Note:	Originally released as a motion picture by Paramount Pictures, 1997.
Restrictions on Access Note:	Access restricted to subscribers.
Participant or Performer Note:	Morgan Freeman, Anthony Hopkins, Djimon Hounsou, Matthew McConaughey, Nigel Hawthorne.
Target Audience Note:	Rating: R; for some scenes of strong brutal violence and some related nudity.
System Details Note:	Content available as a streaming video.
Source of Description Note:	Title from distributor's web site (viewed January 21, 2015).