Word: spielbergism
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Well, that's it. Steven Spielberg gets the Golden Ladle Award. In a desperate attempt to relive the legitimacy and respect seemingly conferred on him after Schindler's List, Spielberg thought he'd wash the bad taste of The Lost World out of his mouth by once again tackling human suffering. In Amistad, the story of a shipful of African slaves and their struggle for freedom, he pulls out all the stops, pouring on the pathos and the pity, spooning on the sympathy and drenching it all in melodrama. Spielberg has apparently decided to stop making films and instead...
What is most upsetting about the film is the shameless methods used to manipulate the emotions of the audience. You could cut the white liberal guilt in the theater with a knife. Even though the real issue at hand is mostly a technical legal and political question, Spielberg some-how extrapolates it so that it becomes a question of slavery versus non-slavery, of purist evil against innocent victims...
Although their credibility is ultimately undermined by Spielberg's treatment, the movie does contain numerous excellent acting performances. Djimon Hounsou plays the chief African with true and awesome pathos and power. He does more than anything else in the movie to inspire sympathy for the African's cause, and some of the scenes in which he attempts to communicate with his American counsels are quite touching. Hopkins is superb as the embittered yet wise ex-president. His long speech to the Supreme Court at the end is one of the most sincere and meaningful moments in the film...
Throughout the movie, Spielberg takes special care to favor the Africans in all of their trials and tribulations, without adequately developing all sides of the issue, or even clearly defining what the issue is. He provides an overwrought sequence depicting the Africans' torment at the hands of the slave traders, self-consciously attempting to be "powerful." The characters in the movie, let alone the audience, certainly don't need the guilt Spielberg tries to foist upon someone, anyone, with this sequence, especially since the cruelty of the slave trade is never at issue in any of the trials. As soon...
...Chase-Riboud asked a federal judge to stop the film's release, claiming key elements were lifted from her pages. The film's screenwriter, David Franzoni, swears he never read Chase-Riboud's book, but instead used "Black Mutiny," first published in 1953 ? the rights to which Spielberg owns. The judge ruled Monday that the film would proceed at the same time as Chase-Riboud?s lawsuit...