Amazing Grace (DVD)

Amazing Grace is a film which documents phases of the struggle of William Wilberforce to bring about the abolition of the slave trade in the British Empire. The film was released to coincide with the 200th anniversary of the passage of the Anti-Slave Trade Act in 1807. It has a British director, British screenwriter and a predominantly British cast (one of the main parts is played by an African actor).

==== SYNOPSIS ====

...the author of the hymn Amazing Grace, he is shaven headed, dressed in sackcloth, mopping the floor of a church. Such is the power of the performance, that Finney totally captivates the audience, and you can well understand that Newton was a mentor to the young Wilberforce. Finney is utterly compelling and completely convincing, especially at the end when he has lost his sight.

Sir Michael Gambon - Lord Charles Fox. Gambon's character ... more

Amazing Grace is a film which documents phases of the struggle of William Wilberforce to bring about the abolition of the slave trade in the British Empire. The film was released to coincide with the 200th anniversary of the passage of the Anti-Slave Trade Act in 1807. It has a British director, British screenwriter and a predominantly British cast (one of the main parts is played by an African actor).

= SYNOPSIS

=

The film opens in 1797, when Wilberforce is being worn down by the repeated failure to get his anti-slave trade bill through Parliament, with his health, both physical and mental suffering. The film goes back to the beginning of his tireless campaigning some 15 years previously, where Wilberforce finds his life changed by God finding him. Wilberforce considers whether he should give up politics, where he has had a meteoric start to his career, and go into the Church. He is urged to channel his new-found energies to campaign against the slave trade by both William Pitt, his friend and contemporary at Cambridge and Parliament, and by John Newton, a former slaver turned preacher.

The film has two strands - the campaign to abolish the slave trade (both in and out of Parliament) and the romantic interest which ends in his marriage to Barbara Spooner. It is through this courtship, where Wilberforce explains what has happened in his campaign hitherto, that the audience learns the full picture. After the flashback, the film follows events through until the successful bill was passed in 1807.

= CAST

=

There were so many fine performances in this film, but the stand-out ones for me are:

Ioan Gruffud - William Wilberforce. Gruffud manages to play the young and middle aged Wilberforce with equal conviction. He manages to convey the versatility, conviction and giftedness of Wilberforce as a politician, while giving glimpses of the range of his outside interests. For instance, the house is full of animals, which is a pointer to the fact that Wilberforce was one of the founders of the RSPCA. The only side that in my view is under-played is his evangelical Christianity, but this probably reflects decision of the director to stress the politics of the film, rather than the Christian motivation for Wilberforce's campaign.

Benedict Cumberbatch - William Pitt. This is the first major role that Cumberbatch has had, but in many ways his performance is the equal of any in the piece. He captures the drive and political acumen of the youngest Prime Minister in British history, while conveying immense humanity and personal warmth in his relationship with Wilberforce.

Albert Finney - John Newton. When we first see John Newton, a former slave ship captain turned clergyman and the author of the hymn Amazing Grace, he is shaven headed, dressed in sackcloth, mopping the floor of a church. Such is the power of the performance, that Finney totally captivates the audience, and you can well understand that Newton was a mentor to the young Wilberforce. Finney is utterly compelling and completely convincing, especially at the end when he has lost his sight.

Sir Michael Gambon - Lord Charles Fox. Gambon's character begins the film as a minister being castigated in Parliament by Wilberforce, but then joins the abolitionist cause, bringing urbane, slightly world-weary and cynical gravitas as a counterpoint to the fiery conviction and worthiness of Wilberforce's friends. While I have enjoyed Gambon's performances at Dumbledore in the Harry Potter films, this to me was something which played much more to his strengths.

Ciaran Hinds - Lord Tarleton. Hinds in one of my favourite actors, and here he is dealt the hand of playing the staunchest defender of the status quo, a role he plays with conviction and credibility, and never stoops to playing the pantomime villain.

Jeremy Swift - Wilberforce's Butler. Wilberforce's butler is a great comic part, providing a great foil and taking all of Wilberforce's eccentricities in his stride. This may be a small role, but it is nonetheless a memorable performance.

Youssou N'Dour - Olaudah Equiano. Youssou N'Dour is a Senegalese singer, who had never acted before, and for whom English is not even his second language. However, he brings a great presence and dignity to the part, as well as, in the words of the director, "bringing a feel of Africa to the film". He plays an ex-slave, who is a crucial member of the abolitionist circle, whose life story brought home some of the horrors of slavery to a wider British audience.

Rufus Sewell - Thomas Clarkson. Sewell plays the ardent abolitionist Clarkson, who is so consumed by the cause that he would travel the whole length of the country. Sewell conveys the earnestness and passion of Clarkson, even if the script doesn't allow him to give a fully rounded presentation of the character.

Romola Garai - Barbara Spooner. Garai plays the love interest in the film, but manages to emerge as a three-dimensional and fully rounded person, whose commitment to the abolitionist cause clearly makes her a key part of the campaign team. It was a bit of a shock hearing her in the documentary feature to see the remarkable difference the costume, wig and voice required for the part had made from her off-screen style, which I suppose must indicate that this was another fine performance.

= SCRIPT, DIRECTION, FEEL OF THE FILM

=

There are many ways in which this film could have been produced, perhaps the most obvious would have been to do it as a historical drama or biopic. Instead, with the help of a great script by Steven Knight, Michael Apted has produced a film with a contemporary feel, which never descends into the twee, chocolate box air of some of the Jane Austen dramatisations.

Apted has also managed to produce a film which shows that politics can change the world for the better. Parliament provides the backdrop for many of the high points of the film, and the parliamentary scenes are integral to the development of the story. The script draws on the debates in Hansard, and the location used has an authentic feel. It was filmed in a church in the Naval Dockyard in Chatham, which is similar in style to the St Stephen's Hall in Westminster, which was destroyed in a fire in 1834.

Particularly praiseworthy is the way in which the politicians are all presented, if not necessarily sympathetically, at least as rounded people, rather than as caricatures or pantomime villains. This is particularly true of the character played by Ciaran Hinds, but even the Duke of Clarence (Toby Jones) is shown in a convincing, if thoroughly unappealing light.

David Arnold's score matches Stephen Knight's script in giving a contemporary feel rather than a chocolate box, idealised one. While obviously using the music from the title hymn, there are also clear African influences at different stages.

= EVALUATION

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The film is nearly two hours long, but it seemed to fly by when we watched it. The story is unashamed to report one of the great achievements of the British Empire (if you want to argue about the evils of the British Empire, I am happy to do so, but not here), by one of the most remarkable men in British history. I feel the director has achieved his objective in producing a vibrant film that shows that politics can be a force for good, and gave a rounded, three-dimensional portrayal of politicians, even those whose views would lead us more naturally to regard as villains.

The relationship between Wilberforce and Pitt is for me the highlight of the film. Pitt is such a remarkable figure - Prime Minister at 24, in office for 20 of the last 23 years of his life - and I thought this film shed new light for me on his strength of character, commitment to reform and underlined his remarkable political skills.

I have read some criticism that the film doesn't show the true horror of slavery. However, Wilberforce did not go to the West Indies or Africa, but collated research from eye witness, and the film is therefore closer to what happened. Instead, the depictions of the slave ship Madagascar and the tortured memories of John Newton convey the horrors of the slave trade, without recourse to gruesome scene which would draw attention away from the plot. It is also worth bearing in mind this has a PG certificate.

To my view, if you wanted to be picky about historical inaccuracies, I would say there is more grounds for complaint in the way in which the other activities that Wilberforce was involved in - he was a founder member of what is now the RSPCA, a founder member of the Church Missionary Society, as well as a tireless campaigner for all sorts of social reform and even opposed a National Lottery. However, I think these criticisms miss the point - this is the story of some remarkable young men who campaigned tirelessly in Parliament and outside to end the slave trade.

I have also read complaints about the casting and performance of Ioan Gruffud, including for the fact he speaks with a Welsh accent, rather than a Yorkshire brogue. As far as the accent is concerned, that may be the case, but I hadn't honestly noticed this until I read that criticism. As far as the performance is concerned, I think Gruffud fully repaid the director's faith in him, and I found him very human, compelling and convincing. However, I know that my views on certain actors do not always coincide with the views of others.

In summary, we absolutely adored this. In a couple of places (though not for the grand finale scene in Parliament), I found it profoundly moving, such was the strength of the performances, particularly from Albert Finney. To my view, the biggest achievement of the director was to make this film without it being saccharine, over-sentimental or a caricature. I would thoroughly recommend this, and having seen this, I am looking to read a good Wilberforce biography.

= FEATURES

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Commentary with Michael Apted (Director) and Ioan Gruffud. I do not normally look at these commentaries, and they often seem to be self-indulgent luvvie love-ins. In this case, I have listened to about an hour of this, and there were sufficient nuggets to keep me listening. The early stages cover a lot of how and why certain characters were cast, which drew out the point that the director had wanted to cast young actors to highlight the extraordinarily youth of the main protagonists when the campaign started. He also explained the process of choosing locations, which I found interesting, and also that the scene in the harbour where we see the Madagascar took up a large part of the budget. I may well watch the rest if I find the time, although I found Michael Apted had much more of interest to say than Ioan Gruffud.

Documentary "How Sweet the Sound: The Story of Amazing Grace". This is a 25 minute biography for the US market, with interviews with the director, main actors and a Wilberforce biographer. This was quite interesting in confirming those historical aspects which the film had emphasised.

Music video - Chris Tomlin "Amazing Grace". Chris Tomlin is one of my favourite artists, and some of his worship songs are among the most played tracks on my iPod. This version of Amazing Grace is reworked musically in a modern arrangement, with scenes from the film intercut with Chris Tomlin playing the song on an old baby grand piano in a garden in Autumn. There are leaves among the hammers in the open piano, with words on the metalwork shown at difference stages, the last being 'justice'. I quite like it, although I am not a great one for music videos.

Movie trailer - there is a single film trailer of the film, which I had not since prior to watching the film. Two things struck me. First, and positively, the scenes chosen for the trailer do not give a distorted picture of the film as is sometimes the case, where the few good bits are shown there. Secondly, and irritatingly, I found not to be accurate the wording "the story behind the famous hymn", since Amazing Grace was written by Newton to describe his own conversion. Indeed, one of the most compelling scenes is when Newton says to Wilberforce "'I once was blind but now I see'. Didn't I write that?.... Now at last it's true"

= PRACTICAL DETAILS

=

Certificate: PG
Running time: 113 minutes
Director: Michael Apted
Screenplay: Steven Knight

The CD is available is £7.98 on amazon 

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