I think one word was left out that could have given the speech a whole new meaning. And I think it should have been left
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Amistad
doowopfan — 14 years ago(January 11, 2012 12:13 PM)
I think one word was left out that could have given the speech a whole new meaning. And I think it should have been left in. The word is "here" and I'm almost positive it was in the scene in the theater but not on DVD. The slave (don't remember his name right now) says "This is where you go when you die" and I believe it would be better if he said "This is where you go when you die here." I think it would take on a whole new meaning. I'm sure that back home they have a certain belief of where you go when you die. But now they are in America so you go to a different place. If he didn't believe that then why would he say that is where they were going? He'd still believe they were going to whatever their heaven is in Africa. The only reason he thinks it would be different is because they are not in Africa anymore. I think the word "here" is important.
Did that make sense?
I did sixty in five minutes once -
jaystarstar — 14 years ago(January 11, 2012 05:58 PM)
It's in the subtitles in the version currently showing on the Cinemax channels.
It is an important distinction.
Yamba is explaining to Cinque his idea of what white people in America believe in and comparing it to what they believe back in Africa. It is showing that Yamba at least is trying to understand what the white people believe in (in fact it is pretty amazing how close he comes to guessing many of the main tenets of Christianity).
Although, it should be noted too that Cinque gives him a skeptical, almost eye-rolling look, at several points in his explanation, as well as saying, "it's just a story" at one point.
It is not really explained what the Mende idea of the afterlife is, other than your ancestors are available in some way for you to call on them in times of need.
I think the movie was trying to imply in some scenes that Yamba had become a Christian he keeps holding the Bible in many scenes but they did not make any explicit mention of it in the script.- You ever seen Superman $#$# his pants? Case closed.
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DreTam2000 — 14 years ago(January 23, 2012 12:23 AM)
I think the movie was trying to imply in some scenes that Yamba had become a Christian he keeps holding the Bible in many scenes but they did not make any explicit mention of it in the script.
Close, but not quite.
I believe the point of Yamba's attachment to the Bible, was to give audiences an implied look into the idea of how someone from a previously non-Christian background might become Christian. In a sense, the idea is to take a look at religion in general, yet Christianity in particular.
Whether you are pro-Christian or anti-religion (personally I am the latter), the story of the Bible is still a beautiful one. The beliefs in the doctrine are based on beautiful and positive ideology. So the idea isn't to critique religion or even be pro-Christian. The movie is trying to give us an example of how Africans could become Christians once they are in America.
When you are thrown into a dispicable situation full of dispair and hopelessness, and someone drops a concept as powerful as what is preached in the Bible into your lap, it will become your way out. Many Africans faced this. And it is how African-Americans as a whole became Christian. Yamba is a symbol of how someone can innocently stumble upon a concept like Christianity, and embrace it when there is no other form of peace-of-mind within reach.
In the interpretation scene, he is sincerely with almost a child-like innocence interpreting the pictures. This is to show us how something like the Bible could be used to affect people from backgrounds that did not previously involve Christianity. On the flip-side to this, many African-Americans over the years have held anger towards this very concept, because some of us see how Christianity through its many wholesome and wonderous notions could be used to manipulate and indoctrine innocent people. Many associate Christianity with the Anglo-population. And if they are the same ones who handed Yamba the book, yet also the ones who must be convinced that he is not property, something is wrong here (this is why you see many blacks reject Christianity and turn to Islam, another religion that has its own problems).
Another strategic thing that scene did in the literary sense, was liken the Africans to Jesus. By doing this (and also because we know their story from following them on their journey as audience members), the film makes the notion that these Africans are as innocent as Jesus, and potentially even as profound (though this latter idea would be an exaggeration, the idea is to say,
Well why not? Why can't they be as profound as Jesus? As noble and courageous as they are, and after everything they've been through, they are men as big as any big men
hence the Jesus comparison). Not only then are these African characters bigger and better people than their oppressors, but they are pure at heart.
This throws a wrench into the entire pre-20th Century ideology that blacks are inferior, or that they should be slaves. That they are not as smart as whites, or that they are not as civilized or as moral; but how can this be, when these two innocent people are sincerely and intelligently looking through pictures in a Bible to understand their situation, and put their circumstance into spiritual perspective?
That too is part of the point in that scene, similar to another scene early on in the movie when Yamba says (and I quote loosely), "They're idiots."
An African referring to a group of white men as idiots. How ironic (at least for white viewers of the film who Spielberg seeks to humble)
I'm not a control freak, I just like things my way -
joelguyt — 14 years ago(March 07, 2012 04:47 AM)
Yes, that is right. But there is also something else.
The Bible scene was played in conjunction with a scene of a man praying in a church, who was ultimately revealed to be the court's judge. I think this revalation of the judge at the end sums up another message the Bible scene was meant to put out. However, I am not entirely sure of what that message is :S
The praying judge does eventually speak the Africans free based upon the truth, thereby basically destroying his future career. Is this a sign of the appliance of his Christian faith? I woudln't say Spielberg is trying to "promote" Christianity here, but to me he did seem to have put very positive argument towards it.
Do you have any other interpretations?