Amazing Grace film review

certificate_PG

AMAZING GRACE

One of the leading British directors working in Hollywood - so much so that he is now the President of the Director's Guild of America - Michael Apted's career seems to have flown under the radar in his home country. Nevertheless his body of work suggests an extraordinary versatility, from the Oscar-winning Coal Miner's Daughter back in 1980, to 1999's Bond caper The World Is Not Enough. His recent form has been disappointing in terms of box office, with Enigma and Enough both failing, but he returns to form with Amazing Grace, a small but important slice of entertainment and education which has already charted in America's Top Ten.

This is the story of William Wilberforce (Ioan Gruffudd), a man whose place in British history should never be forgotten. Wilberfoce almost single-handedly brought about the abolition of slavery in the early nineteenth century, against monumental opposition. After all, the Empire's fortunes flourished on the chained Africans that were forced to work in pitiful conditions.

Gruffudd's Wiberforce is a single-minded man but not without personal charm and political nous, and in his MP's role soon enlists the help of up-and-coming William Pitt the younger (the equally up-and-coming Benedict Cumberbatch). His inspiration - the famous song of the title - comes from John Newton (Albert Finney), a reformed slaveship master who encourages Wilberforce never to give up despite the massive opposition to his bill in parliament.

Michael Gambon enjoys his role as a minister who quarrels and eventually cedes to Wilberforce while the lone black role is played by Youssou N'Dour, as a wealthy former slave who has been given his freedom. Apted and screenwriter Steven Knight intentionally don't focus on the harsh reality of the slave trade, instead concentrating on Wilberfoce's political and personal life.

It's an inspirational story - one which is told in a wholly satisfactory way, and provides another fitting testimonial to one of England's great political heroes.

Paul Hurley