Opinionated Catholic Goes to the Movies- Amistad

Last Night Turner Classic Movies had a very enjoyable film. That was the movie Amistad that of course dealt with the Slave revolt on a ship and it dramatic effects it had as the case went through the US Court system.

I would recommend showing this movie to your kids because it is very well done.

HOWEVER!!!

I am always a tad wary of movies based on historical events. I do love them but I am always scratching my head and wondering how much of what I saw was " dramatic license". Now one must do that to a certain extent in order to keep the audience entertained and to keep their attention. However there is dramatic License and then there is dramatic license.

For instance the movie JFK by Oliver Stone is truly an abortion of a movie and should never be shown to any history class. In fact there should be a huge warning at the start of the movies that says "About 90 percent of what you are about to see is BS." Sadly there is not.

Amistad is much more of a light offender and is still a great and important movie to see. However here are some things you should be aware of. Here are just a few highlights

The Catholic Moment is made up!!!
In the movies President Van Buren , who is concerned about Southern votes, wants to replace the judge. A Judge Coughlin is introduced. Judge Coughlin we are told is a young judge that wants to advance and has a "Catholic" grandfather in his family tree that he so much wants to hide for political and career reasons.

In the movie there is a dramtic scene of Judge Coughlin going to a Catholic Church alone, dipping his hand in holy water, and praying with great devotion in front of the altar. A few scenes later he rules bravely and in a dramatic fashion for the Africans. Problem is that there is no Catholic grandfather and in fact no Judge Coughlin at all. It is a myth. Sad but true. Judge Judson(more on him later) remained on the case

Roger S. Baldwin the attorney played by Matthew McConaughey was not an Horse and Carriage Chasing lawyer but a respected and important abolitionist.

I am sure this was very annoying to the descendants of Mr Baldwin how their ancestor was portrayed. He took the case free of charge and in fact was well know. He later became Governor of Connecticut.

Connecticut was a slave state and nothing like Abolitionist Boston.
I thought this was a real failing of the movie. Now Slavery was very well on the way out there. In fact it was rare. Still it was not technically illegal.

There were reason why the the ship was taken to Connecticut and not the nearby ports of New York. It all deals with the law of salvage. The Captian of the Federal Ship knew that by taking the ship to a Connecticut port he would double his Salvage reward because the slaves would be ccounted as cargo. Now while Slavery was being quite opposed there(they got rid of it in the mid 1840's) the state still was no meccasfor race relations. For instance you would not see the Morgan Freeman character eating with whites in a public tavern.
Now this case caused a lot of public sensation and no doubt this case had some effect on people of Connecticut and their later thoughts on the subject. However this is largely ignored

Judge Judson was a huge ole racist.
Again an interesting part of the story that was ignored and makes his ruling even more dramatic. The reason he got on the bench was partly because he made himself famous by making sure a school that had blacks and whites together was thrown out of the state.

Religion is very underplayed in this movie-
It is strange but the religous undertones of what is going in this movies is very much missed. The Christian influence on this trial and the Africans was huge. In the movie the Africans are portrayed at looking at their Christian supporters outside sing hymms as being quite befuddled.

The fact is that Christian Aboltionist from start to finish were very active in interacting with the captives from start of finish. Also an interesting fact. There are are now about 87,000 Methodist in Sierra Leone. This can be traced directly to the missionaries that helped them in the and then went back with these slaves back to Africa.

Also the influence fo the free black Christian chruch and their efforts at the time are ignored

Armistad and the office of the President-
The events go over the terms of office of three Presidents not one as the movie portrays. Martin Van Buren , Harrison, and John Tyler. In the movie Martin Van Buren is portrayed in one scene campaigning ofr re election. THis would have nto ahppened because Presidents did not do that. They had surrogates that did that work.

The Supreme Court-
In the movie, John Quincy Adams is portrayed as the only one arguing and then for just a short time. The fact is that Roger Baldwin argued much of the case and in fact the Court rested it ruling on much of his presentation. Further Adams did argue for about two days after Baldwin. This is not to diminish Adams contribution. In fact his arguments about the independent nature of the Judical branch no doubt played a part. Indeed it would be interesting to see what the Justices on the Court thought about the case in perhaps thier private journals or diaries.

Further in the movie Singbe( the African leader) is seen as being present in the Supreme Court as the case is being argued. I find this highly doubtful

Oh the Irony Justice Blackmun(author of Roe v Wade) does a Cameo-
Justice Blackmun does a cameo appearance of Justice Story who gives the dramatic opinion. Now of course for a pro lifer this is rich. The case revolved around techincal issues of where the slaves were actually from. If they were from Cuba then my gosh they were slaves and property. If they were Africa then they could not be considered slaves since the International slave trade was forbidden.

One cannot help to think in real life that Justice Blackmun does similar torture logic on if and when a unborn child is a person nad deserving of rights

In the end it is a very good movie. However I think the movie is enriched if one has a clearer picture of what is going on.

A good starting place is this wilki page that has links and resources.