Movie Review: Amazing Grace - Updated
After viewing Amazing Grace last night, I believe that it is the best film to come out of Hollywood in decades (aside from The Passion of the Christ, which I don’t consider to be a “Hollywood” film.) Amazing Grace, a historical biography, is the story of 18th century William Wilberforce ((Ioan Gruffudd), a Member of Parliament, who battled for twenty years to abolish slavery In Britain. The son of a wealthy British merchant, he studied at Cambridge University, where he began a lasting friendship with Britain’s future prime minister, William Pitt the Younger (Benedict Cumberbatch). The film begins with Wilberforce, a new convert to Christianity, attempting to discern whether or not he should remain in politics or do the work of God. Pitt and others convince him that he can do his best work for God by remaining in the political arena and becoming actively involved in freeing the slaves – the greatest evil of the times. Prominent characters in spurring him on in his battle are: his childh...