Steven Spielberg made this stirring epic legal drama just before his Oscar-winning Saving Private Ryan.

It tells the true story of an African slave uprising aboard a Spanish ship on its way to America in 1839. But the rebel slaves (led by Djimon Hounsou) are tricked and end up in jail, setting in motion a long-running courtroom battle.

Anthony Hopkins gives a marvellous turn as the liberal ex-President John Quincy Adams, but it's Hounsou who gives this powerful stuff its heart.