Amistad and Last of the Mohicans the Movie

Amistad and Last of the Mohicans

Amistad is a 1997 historical drama directed by Steven Spielberg that focuses on the resolution of the 1839 landmark case in which a group of illegally obtained African slaves mutinied against their "owners" and took command of the ship on which they were travelling. The film centers on the legal battle surrounding the slaves and focuses especially on determining who owns the slaves captured by a United States ship and if they can be claimed as slaves at all.

In the film, the slaves aboard the ship La Amistad rebel against their captors for a number of reasons, primarily because they want to go home. As the "slaves'" story begins to unfold, it is revealed that many of them had been kidnapped from their homes in Africa by other Africans who were looking to make money by betraying their fellow countrymen. These kidnapped people's were then taken to a slave market and purchased by slave traders who operated the ship Tecora. While aboard the Tecora, Cinque, who is highlighted in the film, and his fellow abductees, which included men, women, and children, were subjected to the horrors of the Middle Passage. At one point, the crew of the Tecora throws a group of their captives overboard to either lighten their load or to make amends for a miscalculation in rations, as is suggested in the film by Captain Fitzgerald. Upon the Tecora's arrival in Cuba, the remaining, surviving slaves are bought by Ruiz and Montes, who hope to illegally smuggle their captives and sell them for profit, falsely claiming that they are Cuban-born slaves and thus legitimate slaves -- which they are not. After having been passed on to another set of Spanish ship owners, Cinque not only fears for his life after having witnessed the atrocities aboard the Tecora, but he also yearns to be free and to return to his family and home in Sierra Leone, from where he was abducted.

Because of this innate desire to be free, Cinque and his fellow abductees rebel against the crew of La Amistad and kill everyone aboard, except for Ruiz and Montes whom they intend to use to help them navigate the ship back home. While Cinque is initially successful in commandeering La Amistad, the ship is eventually captured by a United States revenue cutter ship and Cinque and his fellow captives are taken to Connecticut to await the trial that will determine their fates.

There were many factors that needed to be determined legally in order to proceed with the issue at hand: were Cinque and his fellow countrymen property and if they were, who could legally lay claim to said property, Ruiz and Montes, the revenue cutters that brought them in, or the Queen Isabella II of Spain. Amidst the salvage claims and property rights that emerged from this ordeal, Queen Isabella II also tried to invoke a number of treaties to claim Cinque et al. As her legal property.

In the film, it was determined that the revenue cutters did not have legal claim over Cinque et al. because they were not property or slaves because they had not been born into slavery and thus any claim was made arguing that they were slaves was invalid. Additionally, Ruiz and Montes were arrested on charges of illegal slave trading. Subsequently, the kidnapped Africans are granted their freedom and given the chance to return to Africa at the United States' expense. However, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Connecticut appealed this initial decision and the case had to then is taken before the Supreme Court. After much deliberation, including arguments by John Quincy Adams on behalf of the Africans, the Supreme Court found in the Africans favor and determined that they were to be set free although they also determined that the United States was not obligated to secure passage for them to return home.

The Last of the Mohicans is a 1992 film by Michael Mann based on the eponymous 1826 novel by James Fenimoore Cooper. Although a work of fiction, the film and novel center on the relations between colonials residing in America and the English during the French and Indian War, also known as the Seven Years War, which lasted from 1754-1763. The film centers on Hawkeye, the adopted son of Chingachgook and adopted brother of Uncas, the last members of the Mohican tribe, as they try to ensure safe passage for Alice and Cora Munro, as well as Major Duncan Heyward, to Fort William Henry where their father, Colonel Edmund Monro, is stationed. Along the way to Ft. William Henry, Hawkeye, Uncas, and Chingachgook, with the help of Major Heyward, must defend the sisters from Magua who is seeking blood vengeance for a slight committed against him and his family by Colonel Monro. While the group safely makes it to Fort William Henry, the British surrender to the French shortly thereafter and the Munro sisters' lives are once again put in peril by Magua who continues to seek revenge. In the end (of the film), Magua appears to be close to obtaining his "justice," however, Alice -- who was ordered to go with him to quell his blood thirst -- ends up committing suicide after Uncas unsuccessfully attempts to rescue her. Through various encounters between Hawkeye and his family and the colonials that they have befriended over the years, the audience is made aware of the relationship that colonials had with the British and how the British treated their American subjects.

In the film, the audience is given insight into colonial life through the Cameron family and through Jack Winthrop, with whom Hawkeye, Uncas, and Chingachgook, have established a friendship. While at the Cameron's frontier house, Jack Winthrop informs Hawkeye, Uncas, and Chingachgook that he is currently in the process of forming a militia for the British army. Although these militiamen are putting their families and homes at risk by leaving them unmanned, the same British army assures them that they will be allowed to return to their families to defend their homes. Because of this assurance, the colonials do not second guess the British and willingly leave their homes and families in order to help defend Fort William Henry, which was, at the time, in need of reinforcements and being heavily bombarded by the French and their Native American allies.