ABSTRACT
In the 1997 movie Amistad, kidnapped and imprisoned Africans find themselves in American courtrooms, being the subjects of what sadly is termed a property dispute. The legal dueling brings both sides to the Supreme Court of the United States, where the Africans are represented by former President John Quincy Adams, played by Anthony Hopkins. Before the hearing begins, Cinque, played by Djimon Hounsou, explains to Adams that he will draw strength from his ancestors, who will be with him in spirit for support and strength, and Adams, in fact, picks up on this idea of invoking ancestry by making his case not only on the facts of the matter, which are sufficiently blurred by this time, but also on the way America’s forefathers themselves would have spoken to the issues at hand. That is, Adams convinces the justices that the case is precisely not about property and instead is about the human values on which the United States was founded. Had Adams not pursued the approach Cinque’s faith in ancestry showed, then perhaps the Africans would not have been freed once again and given passage back to their homeland.
