Amazing Grace (2006)
written by Steven Knight, directed by Michael Apted, starring Ioan Gruffudd, Albert Finney, Romola Garai.
I should start out by saying that in the screenwriters group I belong to, one of our members (Nancy Schraeder) wrote a script on William Wilberforce a few years ago. Her script had been optioned by FourBoys (Patricia Heaton & David Hunt), which started them on the path to this film. Due to the near-standard shuffles of development, my friend’s script fell by the wayside. But it means I was familiar with the main points of the Wilberforce story going into it.
That said – I liked the movie. I thought, over all, everyone did an excellent job. Ioan Gruffudd shines as Wilberforce, bringing a full range of emotion to the story. Albert Finney as John Newton, Wilberforce’s mentor (and of course, the man who wrote the lyrics of “Amazing Grace”), creates a crusty credibility for the repentant slave-ship captain. Romola Garai glides through the period dialogue, costumes, posture and attitudes perfectly, without making Barbara too modern.
Wilberforce’s campaign to end the slave trade in the British Empire took many years, and Wilber (as his friends called him) paid a heavy toll in his health. And indeed, this film focuses on that personal price. I heard one friend critique the film for not conveying enough of the horrors of slavery itself. But I think it was wiser to show the issue just as Wilberforce experienced it. After all, the people he was striving to convince saw no more of the slavery than the movie audience does, and most of them far less.
The one weakness in the film is the way time jumps around. The flashbacks are not always clearly delineated. For those who don’t know the history, this could be confusing. Even so, the cast will carry you along, and you will cheer when Wilberforce finally gains his victory.
