EDITOR'S REVIEW: WILLIAM WILBERFORCE WANTS YOU! A STORY OF AMAZING GRACE

Title:  Amazing Grace

Time:  Around two hours.

Moving Rating:  “PG”, a family film although there are some disturbing scenes depicting the cruelty of the slave trade.

Synopsis:

This is a historical film depicting the true story of William Wilberforce, scion of a wealthy merchant family and member of the British parliament, and his political campaign two centuries ago to ban the African slave trade throughout the British Empire.  Chattel slavery was the backbone of the labor force in many British colonies, especially the lucrative sugar cane plantations of the West Indies.  Many in England made fortunes from this, and the vile enterprise of slave trading fueled it at a horrific cost in human lives.  The movie chronicles Wilberforce's uphill battle as a member of the House of Commons to outlaw the African slave trade by (along with a little parliamentary gamesmanship) changing the hearts and minds of his fellow Britons who had accepted with little thought the unseen brutality and carnage of the African slave trade.  It is a movie that renews the spirit for the pursuit of justice by reminding us that even the hardest hearts against the human dignity of others can be overcome. 

Movie Review:

Amazing Grace takes us along William Wilberforce’s journey from a young man early in his political career whose faith called upon him to put an end to the slave trade through the dispiriting defeats as a middle-aged man to his eventual victory over that great evil in his later years.  The film shows what a commonplace slavery was even in England itself, not just its empire, two hundred years ago and the general indifference of the British public to it.  It also showed how many prospered from slavery supplied by a slave trade at the cost of Africans beaten, shackled, caged, and starved to death by the hundreds of thousands during the cruel and perilous passage across the Atlantic from Africa to the Caribbean.  Interestingly, it also showed the guilty knowledge of the ship owners plying this evil trade, who tried to keep the huge loss of life an industry secret.

Your heart rises and sinks with the advances and retreats of Wilberforce’s campaign to vanquish the slave trade.  You are roused when Wilberforce transmutes his personal disgust with slavery into a call to arms against it as he sings “Amazing Grace” to his astonished card-playing comrades in parliament.  You despair when Wilberforce calls a conference of those comrades to battle the slave trade and walks into a nearly empty meeting hall.  You feel how Wilberforce steels himself for that battle when consults with his mentor, John Newton, a slave trader haunted by the ghosts of 20,000 Africans who died in the bowels of his ships who became an Anglican clergyman and penned “Amazing Grace” as a powerful hymn that no one is beyond redemption.  You also feel how weak a vessel Wilberforce physically is as this battle makes him a bed-ridden wreck.

But there is victory for Wilberforce in the end, and the parliamentary machinations by which he achieves it provides unexpected suspense.  Just as unexpected is the satisfaction of the final scene in which the viewer is treated to a parade of a Highlander military unit in full kit playing the hymn “Amazing Grace” on their bagpipes.  While it is difficult to show through writing how absorbing this film is, it does pull you in, as evidenced by the fact none of the theater-goers left as the credits scrolled over the final scene.  All stayed, but then that is the power of both the hymn and the film Amazing Grace, the power of redemption.

Final Opinion:

Few can walk out of this movie and not be moved by the story, the history, and the song.  It was inspiring on many levels.  This movie will appeal to history buffs and those who like stories of redemption.  This movie was heartbreaking and heartening all at the same time.

Few Americans know the story of William Wilberforce who ignited the abolitionist movement that eventually exploded in this country as the Civil War and united the Royal and U.S. Navies as the military force that exterminated slavery throughout the world.  Even fewer Americans appreciate the soulless indifference of most people two hundred years ago to the misery of their fellow man until Wilberforce stirred consciences not only against slavery and the slave trade, but the abuse of women and children, grinding poverty, and the inhumane conditions of prisons and insane asylums.  Society’s pitiless cruelty, poverty, and brutality towards the young, the weak, and the old that we take for granted as outrageous is a lesson we have the benefit of learning from men like Wilberforce who shook his fellow citizens out of their complacency towards such depravity.

So leaders do matter.  One man can make a difference.  We can take a page from history, and like Wilberforce, fight against the darkness, destruction, and cruelty that indifference allows to inhabit our souls.  Amazing Grace reminds us that we can redeem ourselves in this way.

My Recommendation:  Definitely go see Amazing Grace.  It is appropriate for people of almost all ages.  It is certainly an important history lesson for the young and old alike.

Rating:  Four plus stars!

Reviewed By:  Bridget Dupont-Tingley, Editor L.A.W.

Comments

[Anna Lee]

It was great to see the history behind this moving and haunting song.

I like historical movies and this one really took you back. Loved seeing what it took to get the slave trade to start declining and eventually end.

Very powerful message was sent in Amazing Grace. All humans are created equal under God and deserve respect and dignity. It took wise and courageous men like WW to get those who forgot that fact to wise up.

Wonderful movie.

Couldn't agree with you more.

Definately a winner.

[The Editor - Bridget]

Hello Anna,

I'm glad to hear you enjoyed the movie as much as I did. Of course, I never met a person who didn't love the song. Some people have changed their lives because the song is so powerful. If only we could move people to do great things like Wilberforce did in his time, we'd be in good shape.

Unfortunately, I fear people like Wilberforce are few and far between. But, I never give up hope they'll be some truely courageous and heroic men/women in our time that change a generation (and I use those adjectives very selectively as the terms courgeous and heroic are often over-used in today's times).

I think this movie is extremely pertinent for today's world scene. In a time when the U.S. school system, even GR Public Schools, have limited time and budgets to spend on teaching our kids history of the U.S. and the world, we now have places like the U.K. that are banning completely certain topics (The Crusades and The Holocaust) for fear of upsetting Muslim students.

How can we hope to remove evil from our world like Wilberforce did in so many ways if we wipe the slate clean of what happened in our past? We will continue to make old mistakes and often new, even worse mistakes, if we don't learn the lesson that generations past already did for us. The human race continues to go in circles in so many ways because too few read the past, study the past and learn from the past. These educated and intelligent ones then spend their lives educating the rest of us that didn't take the time to learn. Think of how much farther we could be as a people if we all did the homework ourselves instead of relying on others to do it for us?

There have been a plethora of great men and women throughout the history of the world and I pray that men like Wilberforce, Pitt, and the abolishonists who once prevailed against slavery come in a new generation to slay the darkness in our midst as well (radical Islamic extremists, etc.). Who knows, just like it took outside forces to move Wilberforce to greater good, others in our lifetime will hopefully become motivated to do good as well.

As I noted earlier, one man can make a differnce. So, can each one of us if we but try.

Thanks for the great thoughts and feedback.

[Thebo of GR]

We didn't catch this flick. We weren't too sure of the content from the snippets they gave audiences. But, we liked your review. Might rent it on DVD or catch it on cable or satellite now. We are always looking for a good historical documentatry that gives us some new information we might otherwise have missed.

This guy influenced not only a generation of people in one country but impacted the world. Few have done that in history and even less today. This movie might be informative and a real motivator. Timely in today's world and might show how a person and group of persons can alter minds THE RIGHT WAY. We'll check it out and get back with you.

[Bridget - The Editor]

Hello Thebo,

Do catch this movie - if you like history, believe in faith and perseverance, than this is the movie for you. Feel free to comment later if/when you do see it finally. It was definately informative and motivating. No doubt.

Thanks for reading our web site and giving us your comments. It's always appreciated.

Regards,