The Enigma of Benito Cereno

Enigma is the tragic and compelling true story of an African slave rebellion on board a Spanish ship at the end of the 18th century off the South American coast. Hit by murderous storms, The "San Dominick", having been seized by the slaves, limps into the shelter of an uninhabited island, where she is sighted through the heavy mists by an American Whaler who believe her to be in distress. Whaler Captain, Amasa Delano, an ancestor of American President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, decides to go to the aid of this mysterious vessel, unknowingly threatening the success of the yet undiscovered slave mutiny. A rather ironic pantomime gets played out by the slave leader, Babo, who inverts the master-slave roles, manipulating the Spanish Captain, Don Benito Cereno into pretending he is still in control of the ship. In the end, a desperate Cereno gives up the charade leading to bloody confrontation, re-capture of the Dominick, trial and punishment.