Benjamin's Stash: Video Pick of the Week

      Hello, readers. No "What the Hell Were They Thinking?!" this week. Monday after work involved me very pissily returning a second consecutive order off of Amazon. I don't think any movie, great, good, bad or shitty, would've wanted me commenting on them. That said and done with, I'm moving on with today's weekly recommended viewing pick. Today's movie features three actors with movies opening nationwide this weekend: Anthony Hopkins and Stellan Skarsgard in Thor: The Dark World and Chiwetel Ejiofor in 12 Years a Slave.

      Based on real events back in 1839, Amistad opens with the ship La Amistad carrying Africans from Sierra Leone to Cuba so that they can be sold into slavery. One of the slaves, Sengbe Pieh (Djimon Hounsou), leads a violent rebellion on the ship which results in many of the crew being killed. Captured, they are imprisoned in New England where former slave Theodore Joadson (Morgan Freeman), viewing the rebels as freedom fighters, approaches property lawyer Roger Sherman Baldwin (Matthew McConaughey) to represent the slaves. Baldwin sees this as an open and shut case for their side by referring to a U.S. law that states slaves can only be purchased in America if they were born in the country, meaning the arrested slaves are "stolen goods". Needing a powerful ally, Joadson and Baldwin seek the help of former U.S. president now member of the U.S. House of Representatives John Quincy Adams (Anthony Hopkins).

      While not as powerful as Spielberg's masterpiece Schindler's List, Amistad is similar in that it deals with characters working within a system to right a wrong. Leading the way within that system is McConaughey's terrific turn as the attorney Baldwin. Prior to before he became a 21st century whore for chick flicks (thankfully, this current "McConaughsance" is righting that wrong), Matthew McConaughey appeared in this film and his character is quite shrewd and savy at finding a loophole within the laws of the country. His strategy irks the abolitionists that hire him seeing that it does portray their clients as nothing more than property, but from Baldwin's point of view it's a plan needed for what he sees as an easy victory. Anthony Hopkins is, of course, the best performance of them all as former President John Quincy Adams. His courtroom speech near the end of the film captivates the viewer in ways only a few are capable of doing effortlessly. At the time, Djimon Hounsou was a newcomer, having only done a few very small roles before this film. It's impressive for anyone to hold their own against an acting legend such as Anthony Hopkins, but to witness someone new like Hounsou do it in a few key scenes showed, at the time, a screen presence on the rise (Gladiator and two Oscar nominees for In America and Blood Diamond). It only makes me wonder why nowadays he's stuck doing crap like Push, Never Back Down and Baggage Claim. Films like Amistad show he's deserving of so much better. Yes, I would've liked to have seen more backstory in Hounsou's "Cinque" character, but the victims still at least are given a face and some personality unlike other films where they're just props designed to tug on your heartstrings. It's not Spielberg's best; in fact, it's not even in his top five. It is one of his most underrated films, though and knowing Spielberg, is not cracking his top five really an insult?