Amistad

1839. Slave ship La Amistad at night. Cinque, African captive, frees himself from chains. Leads revolt. Enslaved Africans kill most crew. Blood, violence, desperation. Taking control of ship. Attempting to return home to Sierra Leone. Survival and resistance.

Cinque in Mende: "We will be free." Theme of universal human right to freedom, legal personhood, and that justice can transcend law when law is unjust. Fighting for basic humanity recognition.

Africans captured off Connecticut coast. Imprisoned. Do not speak English. Treated as property, not people. Abolitionists led by Tappan and Joadson want to defend them. Spain demands return. President Van Buren wants slavery issue to go away. Political powder keg.

Young lawyer Roger Baldwin takes case. Property law specialist, not abolitionist. Sees legal angles. Africans communicate through interpreter Covey found by Joadson. Language barrier breaking. Cinque story emerging. Were they born slaves or free people kidnapped? Everything hinges on this.

Should case be about property rights or human rights? Baldwin wants property angle - safer legally. Abolitionists want moral argument. Cinque wants to tell his story. Language and cultural barriers immense. Can justice be achieved in system designed to oppress? Trust difficult.

Trial begins. Baldwin argues Africans were illegally kidnapped free people, not property. Prosecution argues they are Spanish property per treaty. Entering world of legal battle over personhood. Evidence, testimony, technicalities. Cinque humanity on trial through legal documents.

Baldwin and Cinque relationship. Baldwin learning to see Africans as people, not case. Cinque learning American legal system alien but possibly just. Joadson connecting them. Trust building across massive cultural divide. Mutual respect growing through shared goal of freedom.

Flashback to Cinque life in Africa. Kidnapping. Middle Passage horror. Starvation, disease, death. Africans thrown overboard. Harrowing journey. Trial evidence gathering. Finding proof of illegal transport. Promise: legal thriller examining slavery horror, fight for basic humanity recognition through law.

Judge Coglin rules Africans are FREE! Not property. Were illegally kidnapped. Can return to Africa. False victory: justice achieved! But Van Buren, facing election, appeals to Supreme Court. Spain pressures America. Political interference. Legal victory overturned. Still not free.

Supreme Court hearing looming. Van Buren appoints pro-slavery judge. Baldwin inexperienced for Supreme Court. Abolitionists seek former President John Quincy Adams to argue. Adams old, reluctant. Cinque and Africans in prison longer. Despair growing. Freedom slipping away again.

Adams agrees but doubts himself. Old, out of practice. "I am not as I once was." Legal precedents favor slavery. Public opinion divided. Spanish pressure. Presidential politics. Everything stacked against Africans. Baldwin: "We could lose everything." Moment of maximum doubt.

Night before Supreme Court. Adams visiting Cinque in prison. Cinque shows him Bible story - using images to understand. Bonds with Adams across language. Cinque: "I will call into the past, far back to the beginning of time, and beg them to come and help me." Ancestors strength. Adams inspired.

Adams Supreme Court argument! Invokes founding fathers, natural rights, Declaration of Independence. What is law if it denies basic humanity? Calls upon legacy of America ideals. Powerful, impassioned. Synthesis: law must serve justice, not injustice. Human rights transcend politics.

Supreme Court rules Africans are FREE! Can return to Africa! Victory! Van Buren loses reelection. Cinque and survivors preparing to return home. Justice prevailed. Law recognized humanity. Baldwin and Cinque saying goodbye. Respect, friendship. Dignity restored.

Cinque returning to Africa - but home village destroyed by slavers. Family gone. Bittersweet. Won freedom but lost everything. Yet dignity intact. Fight was worth it. Mirror of opening - chained to free, property to person. Justice achieved but cost immense. Complex victory. Historical truth.