Colonialism

Steven Spielberg's "Amistad" is centered on the legal status of Africans caught and brought to America on a Spanish slave ship. The Africans rise up and begin a mutiny against their captors on the high seas and are brought to trial in a New England court. The court must decide if the Africans are actually born as slaves or if they were illegally brought from Africa. If the Africans were born as slaves then they …

…he learns some while he is in prison. A translator is found who helps him express his consternation at the legal system that may free him but will not correct or even address the real crime against him. Cinque learns enough of America to see it's faults. Also, in this movie is President Martin Van Buren, who is portrayed as a feeble man of compromise who wants only to keep the South off his back.