Friday, November 23, 2012

Ghosts in the American Machine: Amistad and Lincoln




“Sir, this war must be waged on the battlefield of righteousness.”
“The what?”
- Amistad

I’ve always had a soft spot for Steven Spielberg’s Amistad. I think this puts me in some kind of minority, as that film is often Exhibit A in the Case Against Spielbergian Sanctimony. It certainly has its flaws – John Williams’s score, while lovely, swells a bit too much; Morgan Freeman gets a couple of dreadfully on-the-nose scenes; and “Give…us…free” is probably some sort of low-point for the director. But dear god, there’s so much to love here, too, quite aside from the fact that it’s a gripping, well-told historical-legal epic. Consider: The haunting scenes depicting the terror and bewilderment of the mutinous slaves as their ship comes closer ashore, or the extended flashback to the “Middle Passage” that occurs right at the mid-point of the film and spreads out in all directions like a gaping wound. And it has some of the finest performances Spielberg has ever directed, including Djimon Hounsou’s as the slave leader Cinque. The actor makes clear that the character’s fury is rooted not just in plain old anger or fear but in frustration: Cinque knows what’s going on but, a stranger in a strange land, lacks the language to express himself.

Amistad has been much on my mind lately, because it makes an appropriate companion piece with Lincoln. Not only are both films about slavery, but they’re about the specifically legal and political machinations by which the institution was maintained and then finally dismantled. Together, the two make a uniquely American diptych: They’re about a festering moral crime which needed the wedding of idealism and practicality, along with the efforts of good men, to be righted.

The idea of property haunts both Amistad and Lincoln. An extended part of the former dwells on the fact that, in order to effectively argue the case of the freed Amistad slaves, the Abolitionists Tappan (Stellan Skarsgard) and Joadson (Morgan Freeman) have to make common cause with a somewhat duplicitous real estate lawyer named Baldwin (Matthew McConnaughey, in a foreshadowing of the trio of political operatives who help do the busywork of collecting votes in Lincoln). The two Abolitionists are idealists – they’re willing to wage a losing battle so long as they don't compromise their beliefs. Baldwin wants to win, and tries to convince them to agree that these slaves can be legally thought of as property: “Ignore everything but the pre-eminent issue at hand," he tells them. "The wrongful transfer of stolen goods. Either way, we win.”


During one of the film’s most striking early scenes, various groups lay claim to the slaves in court – the men who say they have purchased them call them “goods,” the Spanish crown that claims jurisdiction over them refers to them as “property,” and two sailors who brought the ship ashore call them “salvage.” It burns the good guys to have to fight a battle on this turf. But they realize that they must, if they are to have any chance of success.

Similarly, in Lincoln, Abraham Lincoln (Daniel Day-Lewis) discusses the inherent compromise behind his early efforts, including in the Emancipation Proclamation – that he had to treat slaves as property, as war contraband, in order to legally free them in the Confederate states.  His crusading desire to pass the Thirteenth Amendment comes in part from a need to exorcise the ghost of his own compromise. The work that is then done in Congress – uniting idealist Republicans, moderate fence-sitters, and horse-trading Democrats – is akin to the way that Baldwin, Joadson, and Tappan in the earlier film had to reconcile their various hang-ups over ideological purity.

Both films essentially ask whether morality can be found in deeds or beliefs. Amistad suggests that a moral deed eventually becomes a moral belief: Baldwin starts off as a cynical, albeit likable, ambulance chaser-type, but eventually becomes committed to the cause. In Lincoln, the President’s deep hatred of slavery is well-established beforehand. But there is also the suggestion that, in the country at large, the deed – passing the Amendment – will lead to a greater belief. This becomes explicit in the way Spielberg shoots the actual vote in Congress, in which politicians who were earlier depicted as skeptical or looking out solely for themselves seem to gain a kind of peace and inner light as they vote “Yes” on the Amendment. Note also the cut-aways to the White House during these scenes: It's been a series of shadowy, cold rooms for most of the film, but now it begins to be bathed in an almost celestial light, like a haunted house finally freed of its demons.



It's clear that both Amistad and Lincoln were made by a man who still believes in the power of institutions and of leadership. Indeed, in Amistad, the dearth of Presidential leadership is something much commented upon: Martin Van Buren is depicted as a largely useless man unable and unwilling to make the hard choices required to rid the country of this evil. Even former President John Quincy Adams (Anthony Hopkins), one of the heroes of the film, suggests that he himself failed as a leader during his brief time in office: His final speech to the Supreme Court could be seen as not just an argument for the slaves' freedom but also a reflection on his own inability to lance the boil of slavery. In some ways, Abraham Lincoln is the defining absence in Amistad.

Lincoln and Amistad also have a relationship to one another that resembles that of Saving Private Ryan and Schindler’s List. Both Amistad and Schindler are small tales of triumph within broader, unspeakable tragedies. In turn, Lincoln and Saving Private Ryan tackle the rather brutal means by which those tragedies were resolved, if not actually undone. We could even argue that the closing of Lincoln, with its flashback to the President’s second Inaugural address, quite aside from retroactively eulogizing the fallen leader himself, mirrors the end of Saving Private Ryan. For when Lincon says to us, “Let us strive on to finish the work we are in,” isn’t he saying, in essence, “Earn this”?



6 comments:

  1. I also revisited "Amistad" after "Lincoln," and see that it is worthier than its status as a dismissed sentimental period piece. Though there are still elements that bug me ("Give us free" and the John Williams accompaniment to Adams' final arguments work, but work on me in a way that makes me embarrassed), you're on the money in linking it with "Lincoln," particularly with the "vagaries of legal minutia" element. The set pieces are repeatedly spectacular. Most fascinating for me is the way its global perspective follows multiple empires in various stages of development converging over the Amistad issue, anticipating the invisible geopolitical boundaries in "Munich"'s secret wars.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Schindler's List and Amistad are the films I show to my cynical high school seniors. Every single student watches and is moved by both. One of Mr. Spielberg's gifts is his use of humor, even in these, two of the most intense films I know of. I used to think he gives us a belly laugh, only to rip out our hearts. But, now I think he's balancing. He's such a master at balance in other film elements that I think the humor before heart-ripping is a balance, too.

    ReplyDelete
  3. i want to tell the world about the great and mighty spell caster called Dr .osofo my husband was cheating on me and no longer committed to me and our kids when i asked him what the problem was he told me he has fell out of love for me and wanted a divorce i was so heart broken i cried all day and night but he left home i was looking for something online when i saw an article how the great and powerful Dr osofo have helped so many in similar situation like mine he email address was there so i sent him an email telling him about my problem he told me he shall return back to me within 48hrs i did everything he asked me to do the nest day to my greatest surprise my husband came back home and was crying and begging for me to forgive and accept him back he can also help you  contact  him on Email ( osofo.48hoursolutioncenter@gmail.com ) 
    whasAPP him +2349065749952    


    ReplyDelete
  4. My ex-husband and I had always managed to stay friendly after our divorce in February 2017. But I always wanted to get back together with him, All it took was a visit to this spell casters website last December, because my dream was to start a new year with my husband, and live happily with him.. This spell caster requested a specific love spell for me and my husband, and I accepted it. And this powerful spell caster began to work his magic. And 48 hours after this spell caster worked for me, my husband called me back for us to be together again, and he was remorseful for all his wrong deeds. My spell is working because guess what: My “husband” is back and we are making preparations on how to go to court and withdraw our divorce papers ASAP. This is nothing short of a miracle. Thank you Dr Emu for your powerful spells. Words are not enough. here is his Email: emutemple@gmail.com or call/text him on his WhatsApp +2347012841542

    He is also able to cast spell like 1: Lottery 2: Conceive 3: Breakup 4: Divorce 5: Cure for all kinds of diseases and viruses.

    ReplyDelete
  5. I was diagnosed of herpes virus, I have tried all possible means to get cure but all my effort proved abortive, until a friend of mine introduced me to a herbal doctor called Chief Dr Lucky, who prepare herbal medicine to cure all kind of diseases including herpes virus (Herpes), when i contacted this herbal doctor via his email, he sent me herpes virus herbal medicine via courier service, when i received the herbal medicine he gave me step by step instructions on how to apply it, when i applied it as instructed i was totally cured from the virus within 3 weeks of usage. Contact this great herbal doctor today to get your cure. 

    Visit website : https://chiefdrluckyherbaltherapy.wordpress.com/
    What's App number : +2348132777335 
    Via Email : chiefdrlucky@gmail.com

    ReplyDelete
  6. Greetings to everyone reading this testimony,am here to
    testify of a great man who was able to cure me permanently from herpes
    Disease just with his herbal medicine,i have been herpes Positive for 5
    years before i came across Dr voodoo Email on the internet on how he has
    been using his herbal medicine to treat and cure patients from different
    virus, so i contacted him and i explain to him concerning my problem, i
    followed up with the instructions he gave me and he urge me to have faith
    in his words that he was going to restore my health back, after some couple
    of days Dr voodoo sent me some medicine which he gave me prescription on
    how to take for 2 weeks, to make the long story short, I have been
    confirmed Negative from my recent test in the hospital, just within 2 weeks
    Dr voodoo was able to make me healthy and see reasons to live again, though
    science says there is no cure, i believe God has sent this great man to
    save people, you can all contact him for his medicine, he has presently
    been treating diseases like,CANCER,BLOOD DISEASE,DIABETES,HIV,TYPHOID, and
    many others, you can contact this man on voodoospelltemple66@gmail.com.or
    add him on whatsApp +2348140120719, God Bless you sir!

    ReplyDelete