Amistad

Audio problem: When Baldwin writes to John Quincy Adams begging for help, Adams crumples up the letter and drops it to the floor. As it comes to rest, you can see the word "threatened" written above the words "need you". But in the voice-over reading the letter out loud, the word "threatened" is never spoken.

Twotall

Factual error: Cinque is shown in the first scene of the film ripping a nail (to pick his shackles) from the lower deck of Amistad with his bare and bloody fingers during a storm. In fact, Cinque was topside one day, and simply stooped down to pick up a piece of metal he saw to use as a pick. (Not quite as dramatic, but true.)

More mistakes in Amistad

Calderon: What's most bewildering to Her Majesty... is this arrogant independence of the American courts. After all, if you cannot rule the courts, you cannot rule.
Martin Van Buren: Señor Calderon, as any true American will tell you, it's the independence of our courts that keeps us free.

More quotes from Amistad

Question: In the last scene of the film the ship appeared to me to be sailing in a westerly direction (sun sets in the west). Wouldn't the ship need to go east from USA to sail to Sierra Leone?

Maureen

Chosen answer: It's likely that the scene was set in the morning, meaning they would be going east.

Greg Dwyer

More questions & answers from Amistad

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