Jane Wang

10-23-06

Reflection on Amistad
As a high school student, Ive already learned about slavery many times. Each
time we learn about slavery and more and more horrifying details are revealed to us, we
grasp the concept of slavery a bit better. However, only after seeing the short clip of this
movie, Amistad, did I get a better understanding of what slavery actually was. What
helped me to gain that understanding were the horrible scenes that were shone.
The scene that affected me the most was the one where the slaves were first
walking toward the boats. The Europeans standing there were all doing one of two things:
shoving the slaves toward the boats or whipping them. It shocked me to see how every
single European treated the Africans even worse than they would treat animals. The
Europeans whipped the Africans for fun and laughed to see them cry out and fall. Before
seeing this movie, I hadnt really thought about how they got the slaves to the boats. The
knowledge that I gained is not pleasant. I couldnt possibly imagine the thoughts of the
Africans as their lives were changed so suddenly. Even more, I couldnt imagine the
thoughts of the Europeans at that time. Did they really consider that Africans as nothing
more than vermin that could make them tons of cash?
Another scene that disturbed me was the one where the crew was drowning
healthy slaves because they didnt have enough provisions. The sheer number of slaves
that the crew drowned was distressing. When I first learned about the drowning of slaves
on ships, I thought that only the sick were drowned because they could spread disease. If
desperate, I thought that the crew would drown only the weaker Africans. However, in
the movie, the Africans drowned werent weak or sick. They were just drowned because
of the lack of provisions. Not only that, the rest of the Africans were also standing there
watching this horrible act occur. This that made slavery seem more real and horrible to
me. Even though I realize that such a thing must have been considered necessary to the
captain and crew of the ship, it is still excessively cruel. I cannot imagine how the
Europeans were so heartless and devoid of sympathy, even if they did think of the
Africans as beasts.
The third thing in the movie that made me stare in open-mouthed horror was the
conditions in the slave deck. What affected me even more than seeing the Africans
packed together and screaming was what happened during the distribution of food. All of
the Africans were stretching out their hands and begging for food, their expressions and
actions showing that they were all starving. Yet, the crew members distributing food were
calmly strolling among the slaves while commenting whether or not to give each slave
food. Even more, the Africans who received food gobbled it all up while keeping away
from all of their neighbors. This more than anything showed how little food the Africans
were getting. I had first thought that every African received food unless they were sick or
dying. Never had the thought crossed my mind that food was only given to only the
healthiest. Watching this created a sick feeling in the pit of my stomach. I hadnt thought
that conditions were so bad that the Africans even stopped looking after each other.
The one thing that Amistad did for me more than anything else was show me
how horrible conditions for slaves really were. Now I know about the cruelty and
heartlessness of Europeans during those times and how much Africans were
dehumanized. The words slavery and middle passage will never have the same
meaning to me again.