"Amazing Grace" -- The Movie

by Mike Beard
A movie reviewer for Progressive Christian magazine

On February 24, 1791 at age 88, six days before his death, John Wesley penned his last letter. The letter was addressed to William Wilberforce, a Member of Parliament who had been greatly influenced by Wesley’s ministry. Wesley encouraged Wilberforce to continue his battle against the slave trade, “that execrable villainy which is the scandal of religion, of England, and of human nature.”

Steven Knight has shaped the details of Wilberforce’s struggle into a highly engaging and enlightening story. We are introduced to Wilberforce at a crucial midpoint in his career: a moment in 1797, a decade after he became an abolitionist, when, physically exhausted and in despair, he feels that all his work has been for naught. He must decide whether his faith calls him to continue in politics or to enter the work of the Church…“to praise the Lord or change the world?"

Through a series of at first confusing flashbacks we meet some of the people who have helped shape Wilberforce’s life: his old college friend William Pitt theYounger, (Benedict Cumberbatch) who became England's youngest ever Prime Minister at the age of 24; the crusading revolutionary abolitionist Thomas Clarkson (Rufus Sewell); Olaudah Equiano, who is played by the Senegalese musician Youssou N'Dour. Equiano was born in Africa, sent as a slave to the Colonies, bought his freedom and made his home in London, where he wrote a best-selling account of his life and became a leading figure in the fight to end the slavery of his fellow beings. Romola Garai plays Barbara Spooner, a beautiful and headstrong young woman who shares Wilberforce's passion for reform, and who becomes his wife after a whirlwind courtship.

As suggested by the title, a major influence is Wilberforce’s old friend and spiritual mentor John Newton—the former-slave-trader-turned-clergyman known today as the author of the hymn "Amazing Grace." Played with moving certainty by Albert Finney, Newton councils Wilberforce “Some of [God's] people may be emphatically said not to live to themselves. May it not be said of you? … You meet with many things which weary and disgust you … but then they are inseparably connected with your path of duty; and though you cannot do all the good you wish for, some good is done." This moving scene of their dialogue is actually taken from and exchange of letters.

Writer Knight and director Michael Apted deserve great praise for unabashedly giving screen time to passionate and outspoken Christians like Wilberforce and Newton. "I am a great sinner, and Christ is a great savior," Newton declares when Wilberforce visits him at his church. In one moving scene, Newton who has gone blind raises his sightless eyes and thanks God; he now knows how wrong he was to traffic in humans: "I once was blind, but now I see. At last it's true."Some of the most fascinating scenes of the film is set in Parliament, where high-quality actors such as Michael Gambon, Ciaran Hinds and Toby Jones play colleagues on both sides of the issue. These marvelous actors bring to life the high drama of those amazing debates and the skull-duggery of politics.

In 1789 Wilberforce made his first speech against the slave trade. In 1791 he introduced a bill to outlaw the trade. He continued the battle until February 24, 1807 when both Houses of Parliament passed the Slave Trade Act ending nearly 400 years of slave trading in the British empire. A year later, America also banned the practice.

Director Apted has paid a great deal of attention to all the telling little background details that give one a sense of the time and place. The one minor quibble I have with the film is the music score. At times the music is too intrusive.

Amazing Grace is an amazing and true story of how one person inspired by faith and surrounded by a great cloud of witnesses can help change the course of history. The distributors of the film have made available a discussion and study guide as well as a wealth of historical information available at _http://www.amazinggracemovie.com_ (http://www.amazinggracemovie.com/)

Cast: Ioan Gruffdd, Albert Finney, Benedict Cumberbatch, Youssou N'Dour, Romola Garai, Michael Gambon, Toby Jones, Rufus Sewell
Director: Michael Apted
Screen Writer: Steven Knight
Samuel Goldwyn Films
LLC Rated: PG for thematic material involving slavery, and some mild language
1 hour 51 minutes

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John Wesley’s Letter to William Wilberforce
The last letter that John Wesley wrote was to William Wilberforce, a man who had been converted under Wesley's ministry and who was a member of Parliament. The letter concerns his opposition to slavery(http://gbgm-umc.org/umw/wesley/thoughtsuponslavery.stm) and encouragement for Wilberforce to take action for change. Parliament finally outlawed England's participation in the slave trade in 1807._[1]_ (http://gbgm-umc.org/umw/wesley/#1)
On February 24, 1791 at age 88, six days before his death, this last letter was addressed to William Wilberforce. (http://gbgm-umc.org/gifs/worldhistory/wesleyletter.jpg) (aoldb://mail/gifs/worldhistory/wesleyletter.jpg) (http://gbgm-umc.org/gifs/worldhistory/wesleyletter.jpg)

Balam, February 24, 1791

Dear Sir:

Unless the divine power has raised you us to be as Athanasius contra mundum, _[2]_ (http://gbgm-umc.org/umw/wesley/#2) I see not how you can go through your glorious enterprise in opposing that execrable villainy which is the scandal of religion, of England, and of human nature. Unless God has raised you up for this very thing, you will be worn out by the opposition of men and devils. But if God be fore you, who can be against you? Are all of them together stronger than God? O be not weary of well doing! Go on, in the name of God and in the power of his might, till even American slavery (the vilest that ever saw the sun) shall vanish away before it.

Reading this morning a tract wrote by a poor African, I was particularly struck by that circumstance that a man who has a black skin, being wronged or outraged by a white man, can have no redress; it being a "law" in our colonies that the oath of a black against a white goes for nothing. What villainy is this? That he who has guided you from youth up may continue to strengthen you in this and all things, is the prayer of, dear sir,

Your affectionate servant,
John Wesley

_http://oldwww.drew.edu/books/200Years/gallery/gal008.htm_ (http://oldwww.drew.edu/books/200Years/gallery/gal008.htm) a photo of the letter