Amistad Page #4

You and this young so-called lawyer

have proven you know what they are.

They're Africans. Congratulations.

What you don't know, and haven't

bothered in the least to discover,

is who they are.

Right?

Seven.

Eight.

Number nine...

and ten.

Now, how about you, Mr. Baldwin?

Would you like to count

from one to ten?

One to ten in Mende.

- One.

- Ta.

- Two.

- Fele.

- Three.

- Sawa.

- Four.

- Nanee.

Right. Five.

Lorlu.

Fresh fruit!

Straight from the Caribbean!

- Sawa, nanee, lorlu...

- What's happened here?

- One of them died last night.

We tried to take the body

away to bury it.

What do they want?

They want to live with it?

They want to bury him.

They have to bury him

according to their poro beliefs.

Otherwise, his soul

will haunt them.

# The house of Thine abode

# With His own precious son... #

# The house of Thine abode

# The church of

blessed redeemers... #

If I were you, if I ran this place,

I'd set protocol aside just

this once and let them bury him.

# I love Thy kingdom, Lord... #

I was thinking the same thing.

A problem has arisen.

The judge we had,

who believed, I believe,

that you should be freed,

has been dismissed.

A new judge has been called upon

to hear the case,

this time without a jury.

How is that possible?

A chief cannot be replaced.

I can't explain it in any way

that you would understand, Cinque.

Or me, for that matter.

Only that, well, it has happened.

I am not a great orator

or advisor, Cinque.

I'm not a big man in my profession.

I don't know if I alone can convince

this next judge to set you free.

I need your help.

When we go to court,

I need you to speak.

I'm not

an advisor of any kind.

I cannot speak for the others.

Cinque, the others, they say you can.

They say you're the big man here.

I am not.

What's this I hear about a lion?

They say you alone - alone, Cinque -

slew the most terrifying beast

anyone has ever seen.

Is it not true?

It had killed several people.

Even hunters among us.

Everyone including me was afraid.

I was lying down with my family,

when out of nowhere it appeared.

As it came for me

I picked up this big rock

and I threw it.

And by some miracle,

you see, I hit it.

He don't know how

that killed it, but it did.

A rock.

A rock.

I received the gratitude

of everyone in the village.

I was given respect.

They treated me

as if I was a prince.

They gave me

the fine country cloth.

All these things they gave me,

I took them all.

But I knew

I didn't deserve it.

For when I threw that rock at

that beast... if I had missed him...

He said he wouldn't be here

trying to explain these things.

He'd just be dead.

Understand?

Understand?

I'm not a big man.

Just a lucky one.

I might agree with you, Cinque,

except you're forgetting something.

The other lion.

The Amistad, Cinque.

The insurrection.

That too was an accident?

I hardly think so.

That wasn't bravery.

Any man would do the same

to get back to his family.

You yourself would do it.

Someone said that might be yours.

'My wife gave it to me.'

'To keep me safe.'

Cinque...

I need you to tell me

how you got here.

I wanted to kill them too.

For they convinced some of us

that they would take us back home.

Thank you, sir.

Mr. Holabird.

Quite a tale.

Intrigue, abduction,

courage in the face

of unspeakable suffering.

And all true. All right.

Now tell me if this is true.

Some tribes in Africa, for hundreds

of years - thousands, perhaps -

have owned slaves.

Translate.

Yes.

Under what circumstances might one

become a slave among the Mende,

of which you claim to belong?

Translate.

Wars, debts.

Oh, I see. And how many men

are indebted to you ?

I don't think you do see.

Mr. Holabird is trying

to intimidate my colleague.

The Mende word for "slave"

is closer to "worker".

Do these workers own the land

they work on? Do they receive wages?

Are these workers free to not work

for you, if they so choose?

He's questioning the translator!

The translator is answering

for the witness.

- The witness isn't getting a chance!

- Mr. Baldwin!

Fine, Mr. Baldwin! Slavery,

indentured servitude.

Whatever they want to call it,

the concept is the same.

Now, he is familiar with the concept.

When you come down to it,

it's all about money, isn't it?

Slaves, production, money.

I mean, that's the idea of it.

Whether it's here or there.

I'm confused.

Do your people routinely

slaughter their slaves

in the manner that you just

so vividly described to us?

Of course they don't.

What would be the point of that?

Killing your own slaves is like

burning down your own house or hut,

isn't it?

How do you explain that paradox?

I don't understand what you mean.

Sure you do.

As does everyone here.

The behaviour you attribute to

your tormentors - your victims -

and therefore every other

aspect of your testimony,

makes no sense.

- Not even to you.

But thank you. Like all good works

of fiction, it was entertaining.

Nothing more.

Captain Fitzgerald,

please explain your duties

in Her Majesty's navy.

To patrol the Ivory Coast

for slave ships.

Because?

Because slavery is banned

in British law, sir.

Yet the abduction of men from the

British protectorate of Sierra Leone

and their illegal transportation

as described by Cinque,

- is not unheard of, is it?

- Not even unusual, regrettably.

What, if anything, in his account of

his ordeal, do you find believable?

His description of the slave

fortress, for one thing.

There is such a place.

You've seen it?

No, sir. We've not

managed to locate it,

but there is overwhelming

evidence that it is real.

What evidence, exactly? Rumour?

Reports.

By "reports" you mean of the variety

Cinque shared with us today?

Its existence, sir,

has been reported.

Cinque describes

the cold-blooded murder

of many of the people

on board the Tecora.

Mr. Holabird sees this as a paradox.

Do you, sir?

Often when slavers are intercepted,

or believe they may be,

they simply throw all

their prisoners overboard

and thereby rid themselves

of the evidence of their crime.

- Drown hundreds of people?

- Yes.

It hardly seems a lucrative

business to me,

going to all that trouble rounding

men up only to throw them overboard.

No, it's very lucrative.

If only we could corroborate

Cinque's story somehow with...

with evidence of some kind.

The inventory.

This? From the Tecora?

If you look, there's

a notation made on May 10,

correcting the number of slaves on

board, reducing their number by 50.

What does that mean?

If you look at it in conjunction

with Cinque's testimony,

I would say that it means this:

The crew greatly underestimated

the amount of provisions

required for their journey,

and solved the problem

by throwing 50 people overboard.

I'm looking at

the inventory, Captain,

and I'm sorry, I don't

see where it says,

"This morning, we threw

On May 10 or any other day.

As of course you would not.

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