On Sunday afternoon, Marcia and I watched the movie “Amazing Grace”, starring Ion Gruffudd, Romola Garai, Benedict Cumberbatch, Albert Finney, Michael Gambon, and Rufus Sewell.
The movie shows the story behind the abolition of the slave trade in England. Gruffudd plays William Wilberforce who is elected to the House of Commons, and with friends William Pitt The Younger (Cumberbatch), and others that Pitt is in league with (which includes Thomas Clarkson played by Sewell) start a bill to end slavery. Wilberforce looks to guidance from John Newton (Finney), a clergyman and former slave holder who is the author of the lyrics to the song “Amazing Grace”. Though there are few that support the bill, they do gain some strength when joined by Lord Charles Fox (Gambon). The movie switches back and forth between 1797 when Wilberforce meets his future wife, Barbara Spooner (Garai), and 1789 when the bill is first introduced. Eventually we are brought forward to 1807, after the death of Pitt, and fighting colitis and an addiction to laudanum, Wilberforce gets the support needed, and the bill is passed.
I am sorry for those reading this that feel cheated by knowing the end. But I figured that you knew slavery and the slave trade was abolished by England before it was abolished here in the US.
An interesting point is made in a review I read, is that this movie concentrates on the men behind the law, not the slaves themselves. Only one former slave is shown, that being then author Olaudah Equiano who was part of the team formed by Pitt to bring about abolition. The movie concentrates on the emotions of Wilberforce, how he was brought to see the need for this abolishment, fighting against his desire to leave politics and follow his wish to study theology. It shows the fight between the businessmen and the financial structures of the country and just how much the slave trade meant to their economy, and why it was so strongly opposed (among other reasons).
The emotional ties to the song go a long way, too, but it’s not heavy handed. Finney does an incredible job evoking that emotion. Both him and Gambon, who to me sometimes seem interchangeable, give great performances, even if short on actual screen time. All the actors, to me, gave very good performances. I know little of this event in history, but from what I looked up and read briefly after, they got the facts straight, and there was little “Hollywood” in the movie. (Except for the brief parts of the Wilberforce and Spooner’s courtship.) But the point is that all involved seemed to give the respect that this subject deserved, and gave the viewer a movie that was informative, entertaining, and very enlightening.
Recent Comments