Amazing Grace (2007)
Genres : Art/Foreign, Drama, Thriller and Politics/Religion
Tagline : Behind the song you love is a story you will never forget.
Release Date : February 23rd, 2007 (limited)
MPAA Rating : PG for thematic material involving slavery, and some mild language.
Runtime : 1 hr. 51 min.
Country : UK / USA
Language : English
Color : Color
Description : William Wilberforce led efforts as a member of Parliament in 18th-century England to end slavery and the slave trade in the British empire. Wilberforce was elected to the House of Commons at 21 and took on the issue of slavery, successfully assembling a diverse coalition that went up against the most powerful men of the time.
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Review : Crisply told and sincerely thesped, “Amazing Grace” is a workmanlike costumer that distills Blighty’s long battle for the abolition of slavery and the personalities behind landmark antislavery legislation into a tidy story of conscience and perseverance. The closing night preem at the Toronto fest, pic will go out Stateside Feb., 23, 2007, to mark the bicentennial of the passage of a key bill in the struggle. Biz will be decent but unspectacular, though ancillary could be fuelled by pic’s educational value.
In 1797, 34-year-old Evangelical antislavery firebrand William Wilberforce (Ioan Gruffudd), consumed by his cause, exhausted by the vicious Parliament in-fighting and wracked by colitis, retires to the country home of his friends Henry and Marianne Thornton (Nicholas Farrell, Sylvestra Le Touzel). While on the mend, he recounts his struggles to admirer Barbara Spooner (Romola Garai).
Cut to eight years prior, when Wilberforce, whom everybody seems to call “Wilbur,” is persuaded by close friend and future Prime Minister William Pitt (Benedict Cumberbatch) to introduce legislation to end the slave trade in the British Empire.
Wilberforce, who was only 21 when he was elected to the House of Commons, joins Pitt, who at 24 became the youngest P.M. in Britain’s history, to lead a contentious and complex fight for antislavery legislation against chief opponents Lord Tarlton (Ciaran Hinds) and the Duke of Clarence (Toby Jones).
Wilberforce and Pitt are aided by oddball do-gooder Thomas Clarkson (Rufus Sewell) and prominent freed slave and author Oloudah Equiano (Senegalese singer Youssou N’Dour, fine in low-key thesping debut). But, despite their best efforts, Wilberforce’s first antislavery bill is defeated by a landslide in 1791, and subsequent annual legislation fares no better.
However, back in 1797, inspired by his growing love for Barbara, Wilberforce once again takes up the antislavery crusade. After much wrangling and skullduggery, a bill is finally passed in 1807 which does not outlaw slavery but makes it illegal for British ships to transport slaves, giving Wilberforce a hard-fought, morally correct victory.
Cautioning at the tail of the closing credit crawl that certain characters and incidents have been combined or invented to move the drama along, pic’s convenient tale of good vs. evil nevertheless makes its forceful point that Wilberforce’s youthful obsessiveness and unorthodox methods aided tremendously in ending British transport of slaves and accelerating the demise of the slave trade. In fact, the actual Slavery Abolition Act wasn’t passed until 1833, a month after Wilberforce’s death.
Pic reflects the no-nonsense storytelling skills of prolific helmer Michael Apted, whose career-long mix of feature and docu work holds him in good stead once more. Cast is uniformly fine, with Gruffudd setting the pace via a sincere and well-modulated perf and Hinds appropriately dastardly as the sneering Tarlton.
In the three scenes in which he appears, Albert Finney is mesmerizing as the remorseful former slave trader and Wilberforce adviser John Newton, while Michael Gambon gets the bulk of pic’s few lighter lines as Lord Charles Fox, whose dramatic defection to the antislavery movement is seen to break up the logjam within Parliament.
Tech package is pro, with CGI discretely broadening the horizons in certain long shots to cement the period illusion. Closing credits crawl over a bagpipe performance of the cherished title tune, first penned by Newton in the 1770s and lustily sung by Gruffudd at a pivotal point in the proceedings; that segues into “Everyone’s Sky,” penned and sung by N’Dour and composer David Arnold.
Distributors : Samuel Goldwyn Films, Roadside Attractions
Directed by : Michael Apted
Produced by : Jeanney Kim
Sound Mix : SDDS / Dolby Digital / DTS
Official Website : www.amazinggracemovie.com
Actors :
Ioan Gruffudd | William Wilberforce
Albert Finney | John Newton
Benedict Cumberbatch | William Pitt
Michael Gambon | Lord Charles Fox
Romola Garai | Barbara Spooner
Rufus Sewell | Thomas Clarkson
Ciraran Hinds | Lord Tarleton
Youssou N’Dour (II) | Olaudah Equiano
Toby Jones | Duke of Clarence
Nicholas Farrell | Henry Thornton
Sylvestra LeTouzel | Marianne Thornton
Jeremy Swift | Richard the Butler
Stephen Campbell Moore | James Stephen
Bill Paterson | Lord Dundas
Nicholas Day (II) | Sir William Dolben
Georgie Glen | Hannah Moore
Nicholas Woodeson | Harrison
Tom Fisher | John Ramsay
Richard Ridings | Speaker of the House
David Hunt | Lord Camden
David Toole | Beggar
Angie Wallis | Marjorie
Harry Audley
Chris Barnes (IX)
Tom Knight | Physician
Andrew Whipp | MP 1
Andrew Neil (II)
Estelle Morgan | Maid
Philip Dunbar | Camber
Adam Woodroffe | Parliamentary Clerk
Joseph Traynor | Newton’s Secretary
Simon Delaney | Young Parliamentary Officer
Neville Phillips | Old Parliamentary Official
Eki Maria | Young African Woman
Daniel Naprous | Delivery Coach Driver
Peter White | Delivery Assistant
- Tuesday, March 20th, 2007 at 8:45 pm
- 3,142 Views
(13 votes, average: 2.31 out of 5)
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March 20th, 2007 at 8:47 pm
Quoted “rich-464 from United State”
Most people probably have vaguely heard of William Wilberforce without knowing too much about his life. The power of his story, and the power of the central issue (the abolition of slavery), carries this movie that veers from artful to clumsy.
The movie can be confusing, as it moves back and forth between phases of Wilberforce’s life. Often I found myself wondering for a few moments, “When is this?” Also, much of the political intrigue has to be inferred, since the backgrounds of the various players - particularly Wilberforce’s adversaries - are not adequately explained.
However, the performances are quite good, some bordering on excellence. Some might argue that the villains are too simplistically presented, but on an issue like slavery, it is expected that the opposition would be completely unsympathetic (just as Nazis are rarely presented with any hint of sympathy).
I am sure the writers took some liberties with history. By the way, the tune we now associate with the hymn “Amazing Grace” did not become the melody for John Newton’s famous lyrics until after Wilberforce’s death.
I just watched this movie at a private screening for attendees of the National Prayer Breakfast in Washington, DC (clergy are a natural audience for this movie). The reception was favorable, but this was an audience for which the moralizing of the story would naturally resonate. I’m not sure it will attract a very broad audience - this is a movie that may well find its niche on DVD being shown in high school history classes and at church gatherings.
It is a nice, historical, period piece. It is (largely due to subject matter) reminiscent of “Amistad”, with similar pacing.
Should you see it? It depends on whether you like this TYPE of movie. If this genre (historical drama) interests you, this is quite well-done. It might even inspire you to read more about Wilberforce. Go see it. If you are in search of movies that teach lessons about good values and perseverance in fighting for what’s right, go see it.
But if you have no idea when the French Revolution occurred relative to our War of Independence, and if it doesn’t come naturally to you to remember that the newborn U.S. was allied with France against Britain during that period - and if you don’t care - this movie might not be your idea of a fun time.
If I were the producers, I would add one of those “scrolling text” historical introductions to the film before final release, though it is probably too late