SPIELBERG THEME: CHILDREN AND EYES

Spielberg blends two of his key themes in this brilliant shot which acts as our introduction to Queen Isabella II of Spain in Amistad. Spielberg uses eyes and reflection to emphasize the character’s disconnect from the world, and uses the knife that is creating the reflection to highlight the violence that disconnect has created.

He also uses the doll in the background to emphasise Isabella’s childishness and suggest that she, like the doll, is suspended in time, unable to move and progress.

SPIELBERG THEME: CHILDREN

For Spielberg, the innocence of children opens them up to wonders that adults are usually oblivious to (see this iconic scene from Close Encounters of the Third Kind for proof). In Amistad, however, this theme is twisted. The child here is Queen Isabella II of Spain, a young Queen whose naivety and childishness leads to the dark events of the film.

The first time we see her, she is isolated in a huge banquet hall.