John Williams - Amistad: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1997)

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John Williams - Amistad: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1997)

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Amistad: (John Williams) While the history books had never pointed much light on the events of the Spaniard slave ship La Amistad and the rebellion of its 53 captured Africans, director Steven Spielberg revived interest in the topic with a quality 1997 film that follows most of the basic historical facts. After the slaves kill most of the crew of the ship and inadvertently sail onward to the American coast and are captured, their trial represented the tug of war between the claims of the American government, Spain's queen, the ship's surviving crew, and the American naval officers who captured them. Inspiring their defense is former president John Quincy Adams, whose portrayal by Anthony Hopkins is a highlight of the film. The production qualities of Spielberg's effort are exactly as you would expect, raising memories of the equally powerful Schindler's List. But Amistad failed to muster the same emotional attachment in audiences as the previous classic, and the film withered after causing a flurry of initial public inquiry about the event. Nevertheless, an opera based on the subject debuted the same year, countless books were offered about the subject, and the film received its fair share of recognition during awards season. One of the production's Academy Award nominations came to John Williams, who extended his lengthy streak of nominations during his years of production with his highly stylistic music for Amistad. The year of 1997 was one of much anticipation for fans of the maestro; after three years of rather mundane and sparse activity, he wrote a respectfully strong score for Rosewood, a marginally satisfyingly robust sequel for The Lost World: Jurassic Park, and a melodic and rich effort for Seven Years in Tibet. Technically speaking, Amistad is likely the best of these four scores, showing a side of the composer's ethnic elegance that is rarely heard. The centerpiece of the score, the "Dry Your Tears, Afrika" adaptation of a 1967 poem, is a rousing, victorious song with spoken African vocals.

– Jerry McCulley

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John Williams - Amistad: Original Motion Picture Soundtrack (1997)

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