Review of Amazing Grace

Introduction

By the late 18th Century, over 11 million African men, women and children had been removed from their homelands in Africa and transported to the American colonies and West Indies to be sold as slave labour. In a typical journey, up to 600 slaves were packed in ships, each person in a space no larger than the average coffin and left there for six weeks or more (dependent on where they were being transported to). With people literally packed into spaces this small and with no sanitation or decent food/water, disease and starvation were rife. It was normal for only 200 people to be left alive to then be sold as slaves at journey`s end.

Great Britain, the British Empire once the World`s greatest superpower, was one of many countries who raked in huge profits from the slave trade. Very much against mainstream thought at the time, William Wilberforce (Ioan Gruffold) and a group of activists worked tirelessly to abolish this trade with the tacit but low key support of Wilberforce`s good friend and England`s Prime Minister William Pitt (Benedict Cumberbatch).

Amazing Grace, taking it`s name from the hymn of the same name written by ex-slave ship captain John Newton, picks up the story towards the end of the tale with Wilberforce worn out and ill from decades of tireless campaigning for the abolition of the slave trade. At this point, Wilberforce is torn between his political convictions and his renewed faith but is saved, so to speak, by a fortuitious meeting with activist Barbara Spooner (Romola Garai) who re-ignites his passion for politics and also marries him.

Wilberforce gathers a close knit group of activists together including ex-slave Oloudaqh Equiano (Yossou N`Dour), revolutionary activist Thomas Clarkson (Rufus Sewell) and ex-Foreign Secretary Lord Charles Fox (Michael Gambon). They hope to compile and present enough evidence to Parliament to pass Wilberforce`s annual bill to abolish the transportation of slaves. Against them are the Duke of Clarence (Toby Jones) and Lord Tarleton (Ciarán Hinds), MP`s with links to the slave trade - although this was by no means uncommon as it was estimated at one point that at least 300 MP`s had links to this trade through one form or another.

Video

Quite a lush period piece, the attention to detail is quite phenomenal. Good set design and some lovely, if sometimes very wet, cinematography.

Audio

Good surround soundtrack that is amply subtitled. Also of note is David Arnold`s soundtrack, a very apt and powerful mix of English orchestration and African choir.

Features

Commentary with Ioan Gruffud and Michael Apted - quite amiable really…

Making Of - decent half hour segment that is a bit more than the usual EPK.

Trailer

Music video - rather forgettable adaptation of Amazing Grace, video looks good though.

Conclusion

There was a lot of hoo-ha earlier this year about the slave trade on the 200th anniversary of the abolition of the right to transport slaves, with many people advocating an apology from the British people to the ancestors of those who were either transported as slaves or lost their lives as part of this despicable trade. Some people forget that it wasn`t just the British who profited from this trade though, it was many nations and people of different races, not just of Anglo-Saxon origin.

It was also the British, thanks to the tireless work over many decades of William Wilberforce and his group of activists, who led the way in abolishing this trade. The fact that it took so long is one of great regret, but then we tend to look back at history with modern judgemental eyes when the slave trade was deemed to be acceptable. The monumental moral struggle against what were purely economic factors is something that we can be truly proud of, and the fact of the matter is that while the wool was effectively pulled over many MP`s eyes by using the war effort and getting one over on the French was key to passing the law, once Britain decides to do something, we generally do it wholeheartedly. And so it was that the Royal Navy was instrumental in enforcing the law and stopping slave traders from transporting slaves by sea to the West Indies and America.

Amazing Grace could have gone for the latter and some excitement on the high seas, but instead Michael Apted opts to show the story of the passing of the Abolition of the Slave Trade Act 1807 through Parliament. This may make for a more boring film in some eyes but it is both a useful history lesson and also shows where the real foundations were laid. It helps that the script is superb and the cast are amongst the best that Britain could muster for such a film. This film was a real surprise in just how good it is, with Ioan Gruffud and Benedict Cumberbatch absolutely brilliant as the central partnership, albeit one officially detached in terms of the slave trade for purely political concerns (William Pitt encouraged and supported Wilberforce`s work but couldn`t get directly involved due to his position). Acting heavyweights like Rufus Sewell, Ciarán Hinds, Albert Finney and Michael Gambon add to the serious tone of this film.

Whilst Amazing Grace does have a romantic interest in Barbara Spooner, this was something that happened and serves more to galvanise Wilberforce than just introduce some `totty`. As with most historical film`s, there is some licence taken with the facts, but that`s understandable as we`re talking about a campaign that took nearly 30 years just for the portion covered here. It needed to be compressed and licence taken for the film to flow and make sense. They`ve done a superb job with it as well.

One of the inescapable facts though is that the slave trade has not actually ended. It took until 1833 to abolish the slave trade in all forms within the British Empire for example and anyone with an interest in US history knows about the roots of the American Civil War and the abolition of slavery there in 1865. It`s still not enough though, there is still slavery going on in the world - now termed `human trafficking`. So whilst this film does celebrate the start of the process, work is still required to abolish slavery in all its forms.