Amistad(1997)

Oscar nominee: Best Supporting Actor (Anthony Hopkins) ; Best Production Design ; Best Costume Design ; Best Original Dramatic Score.
POOPER: (Thanks Nick and Matt)
All the Africans including Cinque (Djimon Hounsou) are freed of all charges, and go back to Africa.

LONGER VERSION:
Between the testimony of Cinqué himself -how he was forcibly captured, sold as a slave, the unspeakable horrors endured during the infamous Middle Passage trip and his treatment and of the other enslaved people, all the way to the uprising aboard La Amistad, depicted earlier in the movie- and the corroborations of the non-existence of the Lomboko Slave Prison in Sierra Leone from experienced Royal Navy’s Captain Fitzgerald (Peter Firth), completed with a passionate plea from Cinqué, begging, in broken English, to “give us, us free!!”, Baldwin (Matthew McConaughey) manages to prove to the seemingly impressionable Judge Coglin (Jeremy Northam) that, indeed, those surviving men and women standing trial were indeed African-born and not from a plantation in the Americas, thus rendering the claims of salvage from the “Washington” ship and charges of murder by Hollabird (Pete Posthlewaite) and Forsyth (David Paymer) invalid, as well as the ones from Ruiz (Geno Silva) and Montes (John Ortiz) illegal and criminal under the current anti-slavery laws. He orders the latter two arrested and the immediate release of the Africans and their return to the homeland; Baldwin and the Africans joyfully celebrate, while Hollabird and Forsyth walk off, glaring at a surprised Coglin in disgust for him basically turning on them.

Despite this triumph, pro-Slavery Southern Senator Calhoun (Arliss Howard) pressures President Van Buren (Nigel Hawthorne) to bring an appeal of the case to the Supreme Court, which prevents the Africans to be released. A dejected Baldwin, using a confused Covey (Chiwetel Ejiofor), tries to explain the outcome to Cinqué, who reacts with rage and distrust to the news. As a last-ditch effort, Baldwin and former slave Joadson (Morgan Freeman) plead to former President John Quincy Adams (Anthony Hopkins) for help; Adams meets and has a heartfelt conversation -assisted by Covey- with Cinqué, extolling his courage and asserting the need to “reach out to the spirits of our ancestors to win this battle”.

Adams presents a powerful and eloquent case in front of the Justices of the Supreme Court, asserting their need to look into themselves and reacquaint with their dignity to do what is right and respect a lawfully-obtained decision. In the end, Coglin’s verdict is upheld by the Supreme Court; the entire group of Africans are officially declared free men, relieved from the murder charges and to be shipped back to Africa. Cinqué respectfully bids Adams farewell for his efforts and shakes Baldwin’s hand while thanking him in English, before they all go their separate ways.

Scenes and title cards afterwards show:

• The child Queen Isabella II of Spain (Anna Paquin) unsuccessfully tries to appeal these rulings, ultimately giving up when the American Civil War breaks out.
• Van Buren, humiliated by this failure in the Supreme Court, ultimately loses his reelection attempt in 1840 to William Henry Harrison. The polarization of the nation over the slavery issue reaches a boiling point, leading to the Civil War.
• A contingent led by Capt seizes the Lomboko prison. Fitzgerald and all slaves are freed; he is, then, seen ordering the redaction of a sarcastic letter to Forsythe, asserting that “indeed, the alleged slavery prison in Sierra Leone did not exist”. In contrast, the prison is destroyed by artillery fire.
• The Africans successfully return home; yet Cinqué never gets to see his family again, due to a local war in which he feared they were sold as slaves in his absence.