Direction: Michael Apted
Screenplay: Steven Knight
Cast: William Wilberforce (Ioan Gruffudd)
Barbara Spooner (Romola Garai)
William Pitt (Benedict Cumberbatch)
Lord Tarleton (Ciaran Hinds)
Thomas Clarkson (Rufus Sewell)
Olaudah Equiano (Youssou N’Dour)
Lord Charles Fox (Michael Gambon)
John Newton (Albert Finney)
Duke of Clarence (Toby Jones)
It was about two hundred years ago that Britain ended its participation in the slave trade. The struggle to get rid the world of slavery has been a black mark against humanity and one of the darkest chapters in human history. And the journey to freedom set in motion with the gradual emancipation of slaves across the Americas.
Director Michael Apted in his new biopic ‘Amazing Grace’ tells the story of one man’s campaign to end slavery in Great Britain at the end of the 18th century. Amazing Grace which served as closing night of the 2006 Toronto Film Festival in September will go out stateside February 23, 2007 and will be released next month in Britain.
Veteran director Michael Apted is best known for the 7 UP series of documentaries and is also the president of Directors Guild of America.
Storyline:
William Wilberforce (1759-1833) was born into a well-to-do family of British merchants. He joined Cambridge University where he gradually developed an enduring friendship with William Pitt (Benedict Cumberbatch), a classmate who become England’s youngest Prime Minister a few years after graduation.
Wilberforce also decides to enter politics rather than following the footsteps of his father. He was first elected to Parliament at the age of 21, representing Yorkshire. Wilberforce experienced a transformational spiritual encounter which prompted him to lobby tirelessly against slavery for the next 20 years.
In the year 1797, William Wilberforce (Gruffudd) feels disenfranchised after 15 frustrating years in the House of Commons, uselessly trying to pass bills that would end England’s African slave trade. The film then quickly flashes back to 1782 and the twenty-something Wilberforce, floating with eager optimism to show his fellow MPs in the British Parliament that slavery is an immoral practice unbecoming the then most powerful and free nation in the world.
It is a story of good-versus-evil in which, after endless setbacks, the world ends up a better place. The movie ends with adoption of the anti-slave trade act in 1807, but the battle against slavery continued. The British Parliament again bowed to public pressure by emancipating the slaves in its Caribbean colonies in August 1833, one month after Wilberforce’s death.
William Wilberforce is film’s most vibrant character. Wilberforce is best known for his role as Mr. Fantastic in the big-budget ‘Fantastic Four’ films. Ioan Gruffudd is a challenging role in which he portrays sophisticated, unassuming, funny man whose abolitionist passion stems from his natural sense of equality rather than self-righteousness. But Gruffudd’s layered performance makes him an honorable man worthy of admiration.
Amazing Grace inspires us to keep hope alive. The film has everything - passion, conflict, struggle, faith, redemption and grace.
