Steven Spielberg directed this story about the 1839 revolt aboard Spanish slave ship La Amistad and the uprising's tragic aftermath. An African-born slave (Djimon Hounsou) leads a mutiny against his brutal captors, but because the ship is in American waters, a U.S. court must decide the slaves' fates. In an eloquent courtroom speech, ex-president John Quincy Adams (Anthony Hopkins) argues for the Africans' freedom.