Amazing Grace: How Sweet It Is

Hi!  This is Mary Jo, not Susan Sarah, since we swapped days.  She kindly filled in for me last Friday when I was out of town, so for today, I’m the Wednesday Wench.  And I want to rave about a movie. 

We recently saw the movie Amazing Grace, which is about William Wilberforce and his long campaign to end the slave trade.  I loved, loved, loved it.  Of course I’m a sucker for most costume dramas, and I also spent a year immersed in exactly the history from which the movie is drawn, so I’m undoubtedly biased. <g>  (My book that resulted from the research, A Distant Magic, looks at abolition through a lens of fantasy and romance, but it’s basically the same history.)

I was hooked from the moment I saw the trailer online several months ago (you can see it at http://amazinggracemovie.com/ )  I defy any history lover (which most people who come here are) to see that trailer and not want to rush out and see the movie.  (Though as I said, I’m biased.)

Ioan Gruffud (who made a marvelous Horatio Hornblower) plays Wilberforce, and while he’s undoubtedly taller and better looking that the real WW (who was very short and frail  looking), he does a terrific job portraying Wilberforce’s strength, faith, and sensitivity.  It’s said that when Wilberforce spoke,  he sounded a foot taller and he could hold the whole House of Commons in the palm of his hands when he spoke.  And given how rowdy Parliament can be, that was no small feat!

The cast is a feast of great British actors.  Rufus Sowell, whom I first saw as a rural hunk in Cold Comfort Farm (one of my favorite movies of all time), plays the radical cleric Thomas Clarkson, whose organizing and activism were as essential as the political tenacity of the more establishment Wilberforce. 

Ciaran Hinds, who was the lovely naval captain in the movie of Jane Austen’s Persuasion (another personal fave) plays Tarleton, the MP from Liverpool who was one of the slave trade’s greatest supporters.  (Yes, this is the same Colonel Banastre “Bloody” Tarleton of Revolutionary War infamy.) 

Only the British could make a movie of talking heads and politics and make it so gripping.  It helps that there is lot of sly British humor along the way.  Wilberforce’s long time friend and political ally, William Pitt the Younger (who became Prime Minister at age 24) is played by an actor I’ve never heard of, Benedict Cumberbatch.  (Isn’t that Dickensian? <g>)  He does a terrific job, and also gets a lot of first rate one-liners. 

I’ve heard that some reviewers are claiming that the movie downplayed the extent to which Wilberforce’s work was driven by his faith, but I would have to question whether those reviewers actually saw the movie.  Faith was clearly the heart of Wilberforce's commitment, and equally clearly, his strongest supporters were Quakers and fellow evangelicals.  (Above is the image of Albert Finney playing the Reverend John Newton, the slave ship captain turned evangelical preacher who wrote the song "Amazing Grace.")

At the beginning, Wilberforce is wrestling about whether he can serve God and society both.  His faith is always there, and the last shot in the movie is of Westminster Abbey with a military band playing the music of Amazing Grace.  (And amazing moving it was, too.)  I thought the elements of a very complicated movie were very well balanced. 

I was impressed at how they structured such a big, sprawling story that covered many years.  (I struggled with the same problems in my book.)  A good part of the story is told in flashbacks as Wilberforce talks through the night with a lovely young female admirer, Barbara Spooner.  It’s a charming romance and yes, more or less true to the historical record. 

Even if you’re not especially interested in Wilberforce, the movie is worth watching for the historical details, from lighting candles to the way animals are always rambling around the property.  (Wilberforce was also a founder of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals.  Truly, he was perhaps the greatest reformer in British history.)  It’s also fun to see the costume changes.  At the beginning, wigs and Georgian brocades.  In the last great vote to end the trade in 1807, we’re almost into the Regency and the wigs are gone.  (Ending the slave trade was the first great battle.  Full emancipation didn't come until the 1830s.)

If you’re interested in the history, I recommend reading Adam Hochschild’s Bury the Chains (a National Book Award Finalist).  It’s a terrific read, with the tension of a novel and a sweeping view of a historical era that I didn’t learn about in high school. 

But in the meantime, you might want to see the movie if it’s still playing near you.  It’s a way to support history in popular entertainment. <G>

So, have you seen the movie?  Do you want to?  Do you know much about this era of history?  It's inspiring to see that sometimes, humankind does the right thing even when it isn't easy.

Mary Jo, who will certainly buy the DVD

Comments

[Kathy Kremer]

I am very interested in seeing this movie, mainly because it may be the only one of late that has a favorable view of a Christian.

One thing a lot of people don't know about "Amazing Grace" is that the tune commonly sung with those words is not the original one, nor did Newton write it. It was first found in American hymnals in the 1830s and is thought to be a folk tune from Ireland or Scotland. Just a bit of music history for you history buffs.

[Kalen Hughes]

"I saw something nasty in the shed" . . . ok back to the topic at hand: I LOVED this movie!!! I saw it twice in the theatre, and I'll own it on DVD the day it comes out.

I guess it helps that the actress playing Barbara Ann looks almost exactly as I picture the heroine of my first book.

And I loved the hare in the parlor. So funny.

[Susan Wilbanks]

I'm looking forward to seeing it, but probably won't get a chance till it's out on DVD. On the rare occasions we can get babysitting, lately we've been going out for long, leisurely dinners instead of hurried dinner plus movie.

I'll look for BURY THE CHAINS. I recently read ROUGH CROSSINGS, by Simon Schama. It's mostly the story of escaped slaves who fought for the British during the Revolution in exchange for their freedom and what became of them, with some general background on abolitionism in Britain.

[Nina P]

Wow! What a great piece, Mary Jo. Thanks for the recommendation. I'll have my eye out for the DVD. And, of course, I'm dying for A DISTANT MAGIC. Come on July!

I know little about the slave trade in Briton but I do know much about the trade in America. I live near the town that was the last stop on the Underground Railroad. There are still houses standing with false walls and secret tunnels out to barns.

[Janga]

I've seen Amazing Grace twice too, Kalen. Wilberforce has fascinated me since I wrote a paper on him as an undergrad and discovered just how many reforms he was interested in. I was afraid that the movie would be less than satisfying, but I thought it was a wonderful movie--inspiring, in the best sense of that word. I read a statement by Michael Apted somewhere in which he said that he wanted to capture Wilberforce's conversion and his faith "without getting preachy." I think he succeeded admirably.

[maryjoputney]

From MJP.

Nina, where you are, on the southern edge of Pennsylvania, it's not surprising that there are plenty of Underground Railroad stations. There was even one near where I grew up, halfway between Buffalo and Rochester--probably for slaves heading for Canada.

I liked it when Pitt said he also liked Wilberforce's critters, like the hare--preferably in brandy sauce. :)

It's worth remembering how young these men were when they started their crusade to end the slave trade: Wilberforce, Pitt, and Clarkson were in their mid-20s.

There's a Clarkson story I love. He was very involved with the Quakers, though he was C of E himself, which was valuable to the cause. Quakers for notorious for not doffing their hats for any man, not even the king. One of the reasons they were considered weird.

When Clarkson died at an advanced age (the only man of the three to survive until emancipation), many Quakers attended his funeral--and for him, they took off their hats.

Mary Jo

[Karen Harbaugh]

Mary Jo, I saw the movie probably...let's see, the 2nd week it was out, I think. Loved it, absolutely loved it. It made me want to write Regencies again, seriously, particularly after the "love at first spat" courtship of Wilberforce and Barbara Spooner. If that wasn't a courtship right out of a Regency romance, I don't know what is.

Loved Cumberbatch as William Pitt the Younger. So cooly political when necessary. That actor did a fine, fine job of depicting a complex character.

I'll no doubt buy the movie when it comes out on DVD.

[CJPrince]

I saw the movie this weekend (loved it) and then there was a large article in my hometown Sunday paper about Wilberforce. (Timely!!) It mentioned something that I did not glean from the movie nor from anything else I've read about the subject. It stated at least twice in the article that Wilberforce was himself a former slave trader. Do any of you who have researched the man and/or the era know anything about this?

[maryjoputney]

From MJP:

Interesting, CJ! I've never heard anything to suggest that Wilberforce ever had anything to do with the slave trade. He came from a prosperous Yorkshire merchant family in Hull--not a slave port, and according to Hochschild's BURY THE CHAINS,"one seaches in vain for any offense worse than falling asleep in church." If Wilberforce had been involved in the slave trade, I'm sure it would be a well known fact.

My guess is that the newspaper reporter confused him with the Reverend John Newton, the evangelical preacher who wrote the song "Amazing Grace" and had indeed been captain of a slave ship as a young man. (Wilberforce became a Member of Parliament a few weeks after his 21st birthday, so he hardly had time to be involved in anything else. :)

Mary Jo

[Chris]

Thanks for the blog regarding the film, Amazing Grace.

Just wanted to let you know that this weekend and next, supporters of the Amazing Change Campaign are hosting Amazing Nights Of Grace, in a concerted effort to get everyone talking about the issue of modern day slavery. The Amazing Change is a social justice campaign launched in conjunction with the release of Amazing Grace to abolish modern day slavery.

Plan your own Amazing Grace event and use the film to discuss your activism, faith, and other important themes from Amazing Grace. All the tools are ready for your use. The steps to plan your own event can be found at the following website:

http://www.theamazingchange.com/amazingnightofgrace.html

Learn about people continuing the work of William Wilberforce today at http://www.theamazingchange.com. Thanks again for your support. Please let us know if you have any questions or need any support by contacting us through this page.

Chris
The Amazing Change Campaign