American legal films (Film Guide)

Source: Wikipedia. Commentary (films not included). Pages: 25. Chapters: ...And Justice for All, The People vs. Larry Flynt, Amistad, Cape Fear, Erin Brockovich, Runaway Jury, The Rainmaker, A Few Good Men, The Firm, The Pelican Brief, The Devil's Advocate, Why Do Fools Fall in Love, Double Jeopardy, A Civil Action, True Believer, Sombras de gloria. Excerpt: Amistad is a 1997 historical drama film directed by Steven Spielberg based on the true story of a slave mutiny that took place aboard a ship of the same name in 1839, and the legal battle that followed. It shows how, even though the case was won at the federal district court level, it was appealed by President Martin Van Buren to the Supreme Court, and how former President John Quincy Adams took part in the proceedings. This was the second film for which Anthony Hopkins received an Academy Award nomination for playing a United States President, having previously been nominated in 1995 for playing Richard Nixon in Nixon. Retired U.S. Supreme Court Justice Harry Blackmun appears in the film as Justice Joseph Story. The film begins in the depths of the schooner La Amistad, a slave-ship carrying captured West Africans into slavery. The film's protagonist, Sengbe Pieh (Djimon Hounsou), most known by his Catalan name, "Cinqué," (means fifth) painstakingly picks a nail out of the ship's structure and uses it to pick the lock on his shackles. Freeing a number of his companions, Cinquè initiates a rebellion on board the storm-tossed vessel. In the ensuing fighting, several Africans and most of the ship's Spanish crew are killed, but Cinquè saves two of the ship's officers, Ruiz and Montez, who he believes can sail them back to Africa (the officers try to explain their point in Spanish, as they do not speak Cinquè's language). After six weeks have passed, the ship is running out of food and fresh water, and Cinquè is growing angry with Yamba who believes keeping the Spaniards alive is the only way to get back to Africa. During the night, they pass another vessel, carrying a group of wealthy English-speaking passengers having a dinner party on deck. The next day, they sight land. Unsure of their location, a group of African men takes one of the ship's boats to shore to fetch fresh water. While there, La Amistad is found by a military vessel bearing an American flag - the Spani