 |
|
|
Other reviews by Howard Schumann
|
Amazing Grace
We see his wit and humor in the Parliamentary debates on slavery, his struggles with his faith, his friendship with the young Prime Minister William Pitt, and his romance and marriage to activist Barbara Spooner who shares his dedication to abolition. The film begins in 1797 as Wilberforce, then only 34, but worn out as a result of his recurring defeats in Parliament, has gone to rest at the home of friends Henry (Nicholas Farrell) and Marianne Thornton (Sylvestra Le Touzel). There he meets the beautiful Barbara Spooner (Romola Garai) and tells her the story of his life and work to abolish the slave trade. The film then moves back in time to when Wilberforce was first elected to the House of Commons in 1780 at the age of 21.
Though there is no actual depiction of the brutality of the African slave trade, there is ample evidence presented in debate. Going back to the Fifteenth century, the trade was run for the benefit of merchants who transported European goods to Africa, brought African men, women, and children as slaves to the West Indies who were then sold and exchanged for West Indian exports. Chained together in a cramped room the size of a closet, many died on the voyage which lasted up to three months, and were thrown overboard. Once the weakest of the slaves were abandoned on the wharf to die, the hardiest slaves were sent to the cane fields to perform exhausting forced labor where many more died. Clarkson collects 300,000 signatures on a petition favoring abolition in which the signatories vow to refuse to use plantation sugar in their tea.
Wilberforce does seem slightly larger than life, yet he was a worthy hero who was admired by Jefferson, Lincoln, and Thoreau. In spite of his physical limitations and the overweening power of the ruling elite, he became a role model for those afraid to stand for an unpopular cause. Despite the safety of dramatizing events from two centuries ago, Amazing Grace shows us that political leaders can also be individuals of moral conviction who are capable of leaving the world in a better place than they found it.
©2007 Howard Schumann |
The life and political career of an unlikely hero, William Wilberforce, a member of the British Parliament in the 18th century who led a courageous twenty-year campaign to abolish England’s participation in the African slave trade, is dramatized in Michael Apted’s Amazing Grace. The title is derived from the popular hymn whose words were written by John Newton, a former captain of slave ships whose soul was redeemed by his faith. Wilberforce is played by Welsh actor Ioan Gruffudd who brings passion to the role of the sickly leader who was on medication to relieve the symptoms of Colitis most of his life, yet maintained a single-minded dedication to a cause despite fierce opposition. 
He is shown meditating on the grass of his wealthy estate in conversation with his friend William Pitt (Benedict Cumberbatch), who eventually became the youngest Prime Minister in Britain’s history at the age of 24. At the urging of Pitt, Wilberforce puts together a Committee for the Abolition of the Slave Trade that began gathering facts to present to Parliament and introduces his first bill to abolish the slave trade in 1791, one of many bills he was to present over the next twenty years. The members of the committee include Thomas Clarkson, an evangelical Christian (called “the Jacobin by opponents), Oloudagh Equiano (Youssou N’Dour), a freed slave and author of a book about his experiences, and Lord Charles Fox (Michael Gambon), a pro-slavery advocate who crosses over and joins the abolition campaign. 
Another strong supporter is John Newton portrayed by the great Albert Finney who persuades the shaky Wilberforce to keep up the fight and not to give it up for a life in the Church. The opposition to abolition, however, remains strong, led by Lord Tarlton (Ciaran Hinds), and the Duke of Clarence (Toby Jones) who vow to protect the economic benefits of slavery, even arguing that slaves live more comfortably on the plantations than some Englishmen. Although Amazing Grace is a conventional biography that does not venture into any new cinematic territory, it is a very entertaining and inspiring film that captures the period with authenticity and has a stellar cast that performs admirably throughout.