Amistad

John Williams musik skäms som sagt inte för sig och ger verkligen filmen ett djup som bara är härligt.

Few other directors could have taken such a worthy but not obviously compelling story and doused it so effectively with the kerosene of drama, emotion and blood.

The heart of the film, really, is in Anthony Hopkins' powerful performance as old John Quincy Adams, who speaks for 11 minutes in defense of the defendants, and holds the courtroom (and the audience) spellbound.

Amistad is worth seeing for the stormy scenes on board the slave boat, and for Djimon Hounsou's magnetic performance.

Thematically rich, impeccably crafted, and intellectually stimulating...