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AMAZING GRACE – David Arnold
Original Review by Jonathan Broxton
One of the least worthy aspects of the British Empire was their involvement in and implicit support of the international slave trade in the 1700s. For over one hundred years, thousands upon thousands of west African tribesmen were forcibly removed from their homes and shipped overseas to work as slaves, on sugar plantations in the Caribbean, and in the cotton fields of what would eventually become the United States. This heinous activity, in Britain at least, was eventually abolished due to the tireless activity of one man: William Wilberforce. Amazing Grace, directed by Michael Apted and starring Ioan Gruffudd, tells the life story of Wilberforce: his first hesitant steps into British government as the young member of Parliament from Yorkshire in 1780, his friendship with future Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger (Benedict Cumberbatch), his conversion to evangelical Christianity in 1785, his subsequent encounters with Anglican clergyman John Newton (Albert Finney) – the writer of the eponymous hymn Amazing Grace – and his eventual immersion into and leadership of the abolition movement which eventually led to the slave trade being successfully abolished in 1807. In addition to the lead actors, the film boasts a starry supporting cast including Romola Garai, Rufus Sewell, Michael Gambon, Ciaran Hinds, and Senegalese singer/songwriter Youssou N’Dour as Oloudaqh Equiano, the slave who first inspired Wilberforce to act. Read more…
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