Talk:Amistad (film)

References to use

Please add to the list references that can be used for the film article.

• Aquino, John T. (2005). "Amistad Trial (1840) / Film: Amistad (1997)". Truth and Lives on Film: The Legal Problems of Depicting Real Persons and Events in a Fictional Medium. McFarland. pp. 77–81. ISBN 0786420448.

Posted

I just quickly posted Amasted(movie), I should be back to clean it up. - Pingveno 04:10, 2 Jan 2004 (UTC)

Movie was filmed in Rhode Island State House. That should deffinately be incorporated in the article about the movie. — Preceding comment added by RI State house employee198.7.225.189 (talk) 17:17, 18 August 2011 (UTC) Also the court scenes in the movie were filmed in the Newport RI Colony House

movie vs. reality

There should be a link to the actual case and a discussion of the differences.

I very much agree. Zahir13 03:19, 5 January 2007 (UTC)

Me too, I wish I had the info.～～～～

Rating

I'm not used to editing wikipedia, otherwise I would do this, but it needs to be noted that this movie is rated "R" according to the MPAA. Thanks.Belgarion777 01:13, 18 September 2007 (UTC)

Van Buren election campaign

The film shows Van Buren making a whistlestop campaign for re-election. This is an anachronism; the nation's railroad network was not sufficiently advanced in 1840 to allow such a tactic (although it has been noted much of the railroad network was in place between New York and New Haven, and also at various sites along the mid-Atlantic coast, so it was possible it could have been done).

Which is it? --82.69.202.14 (talk) 16:28, 4 August 2008 (UTC)

Case Within A Case:  :"Amistad" the movie plagiarized from book "Echo of Lions"

I think a section should be added about "Amistad" being plagiarized from Barbara Chase-Riboud's novel "Echo of Lion's", which certainly adds irony, and also illuminates the origins of the film. The interesting thing about this plagiarism case is that it was Jackie Kennedy Onassis who gave a copy of Riboud's novel to Spielberg and that's how he first heard about it. There's an excellent Internet site on this called Wild Realm Film Reviews: Spielberg and Plagiarism. —Preceding unsigned comment added by 66.122.182.221 (talk) 13:44, 30 January 2010 (UTC)

Not tricked... per se

Unsure how this should be corrected, but in the 2nd paragraph of the Summary it says, "...the Spaniards have tricked the Africans by sailing directly for the United States." What is actually depicted: Cinqué is awake one night, looking at the stars, and notices when the stars start to cartwheel as the Spaniards turn the ship. Cinqué takes control of the wheel and, looking at the stars, turns them back to the East. When Cinqué wakes up the following morning, the Spaniards gesture to the rising sun stating, "Este."

The reason the ship arrives on the East coast of the U.S. (thus having traveled West) is not that the Spaniards tricked anyone, they just had no way to communicate that they were traveling against the wind and needed to tack in order to sail East, beating against the trade winds, across the Atlantic. Since I'm not sure exactly when the aforementioned scene takes place (though I'm pretty sure it happens before they run out of food) I'm not sure where in the Summary to place the corrections. Anyone out there who owns the movie and can make the corrections or at least a confirmation of when the scene takes place? Usmcrave99 (talk) 18:04, 13 October 2010 (UTC)

External links modified

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Corrections of errors &

---The Old Jacobite_{The '45},just what WP Guideline or policy is there against correcting errors?104.35.236.49 (talk) 15:20, 15 February 2018 (UTC)

Editing Plot

The plot has some ommissions and error that I have attempt to correct and include. One editor said that it was reverted because I did not cite any references. I was unaware that plots needed citations since the document being described is the film. The president refers to 54 Africans having been initially imprisoned. One would die later but it remains the fact that 54 were imprisoned. There were more than Mende in the group. If you understand the African languages used during the film you will see a reference to presence of people (Tenme) that claimed a part of the cell holding area as their territory, separate from that of the Mende, another group of native people to the Sierra Leone area where the Mende came. The Africans were feed mush not anything that would produce crumbs. Crumbs are a specific type of food residue and they are not mush produced. When it concerns foriegn language titles translations are provided. In this case Amistade is not English, it is Spanish and it means "friendship". It is very fitting to understand that a ship named "friendship" is what brought Africans that helped shape US law.2605:E000:9143:7000:3832:5234:5BA4:7DB6 (talk) 20:01, 15 February 2018 (UTC)

Taking these one-at-a-time. Yes, movie plots require references same as anything else. At the moment you are not actually citing the film, but your memory of it, which may be wrong, or may be thought wrong by someone else whose own memory was faulty. Got a cite for a script, a transcript, or even a clip and a time? Then it's what Wiki thinks of as OR.

Next, if your memory is correct, and Van Buren did, in fact, refer to an incorrect number, that could be his character's assertion rather than the film's. If it was the film's claim, then surely it needs to be documented as one of its (many) factual errors.

Next, the fact that someone spoke Temne does not support that they were a native Temne speaker; it's widely used as a lingua franca, so the outsiders could be from another group, or several other groups. Again, a cite to a script or transcript would help here, or a director's commentary, &cet. would help.

Yes, the ship's name "Amistad" (note the lack of final "E", btw) is not from an English word; whether it needs xlation, and such prominent translation, is an editorial decision. Make your case for it, and make it as a single change, and see what the consensus is.

Oh, yeah...and get an account, instead of hiding behind an IP... Anmccaff (talk) 20:43, 15 February 2018 (UTC)

I have added ({{Literal translation|Friendship}}) to the intro, that is sensible enough. Are there any sources available that support the plot changes? (If IP2605.etc would follow up on my talk page, I'd be happy to try and help.) Sam Sailor 20:57, 15 February 2018 (UTC)

I dunno; that's prety prominent, and a little misleading. The movie isn't about "friendship", and the fact that the ship's name means that isn't transparent to a lot of English speakers. If it belongs in the lead, perhaps more like this?

Amistad is a 1997 American historical drama film directed by Steven Spielberg, based on the true story of the events in 1839 aboard the slave ship La Amistad lit. 'Friendship', during which Mende tribesmen abducted for the slave trade managed to gain control of their captors' ship off the coast of Cuba, and the international legal battle that followed their capture by a U.S. revenue cutter. The case was ultimately resolved by the U.S. Supreme Court in 1841.

Anmccaff (talk) 21:18, 15 February 2018 (UTC)

Looks better, go for it. Sam Sailor 21:30, 15 February 2018 (UTC)

if you know the difference between Mende and Tenme then you will understand the statements made when the attorneys took their table into the prison cell. The attorneys originally placed the table in the Tenme territory of the cell and were asked to leave then the Mende gives them permission to place it in their. That is why there are Mende and Tenme aboard the Amistasde. The number 54 is what Van Buren says when he says Why should he be concern about these 54 .....If you see the film they are not given any food that you can get crumbs because they are feed mush. Crumbs are from bread and cake etc not mush.2605:E000:9143:7000:4541:FEA4:B7BA:FDE9 (talk) 23:43, 15 February 2018 (UTC)