The latest film about US slave history, Steven Spielbergs Amistad, [deal, simple present] with the right to freedom. The story is well worth telling : in 1839, 44 West Africans, kidnapped by slavers and transported to the US on La Amistad [escape, simple past] their shackles and murdered all but two of their oppressors. These [spare, simple past] on condition that they pilot the boat back to Africa. The men [recapture, simple past] and placed on trial in New England, where several groups [dispute, simple past] their fate.
Spielberg captures the horror of the slave trade, he [help, simple present] by a performance of towering dignity from Hounsou. But David Franzonis script takes liberties with the truth, and the story [over-simplify, simple present] by many distortions: the Amistad [take, simple past] back to New Haven, Connecticut, a Northern State where slavery [be, simple past] still legal, but there is no mention of this crucial detail.
Amistad is a vastly superior courtroom drama and without Spielberg at the helm, the film would never [make, perfect infinitive]. |
