by Rebecca Mikulin

Created on: May 27, 2009

William Wilberforce was a staunch advocate for the abolition of slavery in Great Britain, beginning his campaign in the late 1700s and not completing his task until just three days before his death in 1833. Wilberforce was the front-runner of the abolitionist movement; it is believed that without his efforts the slave trade would have continued for much longer than it did.

Amazing Grace begins shortly after Wilberforce's "religious experience" in 1785 when he suddenly became conflicted about whether he should devote his life to religion or politics. At the time, Wilberforce (Ioan Gruffud) was already a noted politician. One night, he meets Thomas Clarkson (Rufus Sewell), Hannah More (Georgie Glen), and Olaudah Equiano (Youssou N'Dour), amongst others, who suggest to him that there is a way to serve God while continuing in politics - by speaking out against the slave trade.

What ensues is the struggle that takes the rest of Wilberforce's life, including a period of lost faith, aided by various friends including his wife (Romola Garai) and John Newton (Albert Finney), an ex-slaver who penned the hymn Amazing Grace.

Historical dramas seem to be much easier to come by as of late; it seems that Hollywood has realized its lack of creativity and so falls back on true stories. Not that I'm complaining, mind you, as historically-based dramas have always been some of my favorite. On the backdrop of history, characters can be so much richer by virtue of actually having lived, and the setting so much more three-dimensional by virtue of actually having existed.

I must confess that though I'd heard the name of William Wilberforce before, I knew next to nothing about him until watching this movie. The film itself was very informative on Wilberforce's life and, as far as I can discover with cursory research, is actually quite accurate though with some possible chronological issues.

The success of a historical drama relies on whether or not it inspired my curiosity to learn more about the people and issues around which the story is built. On this count, Amazing Grace has succeeded admirably. Every character portrayed in this film excited some kind of curiosity, and I was happy to find that most, if not all, of the characters actually lived.

As for acting, there was certainly an impressive cast here. I have always been a fan of Rufus Sewell as he is a very versatile actor that has played victims to villains to heroes with perfection. In this film Sewell plays a fiery activist

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