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After the American Revolution, Britain was not exactly the most economically stable place on earth. The slave trade was heralded as a major source of income and the lifeblood of coastal towns, and those who stood up against slavery were called anti-establishment at best and traitors to the crown at worst. Outspoken British abolitionist William Wilberforce was one of those men.

Amazing Grace chronicles Wilberforce's 18-year struggle in the British Parliament, as he introduced bill after bill to abolish the slave trade, only to watch them fail spectacularly.

The title for the movie comes from the song, of course, and the connection to the movie is that the author of the hymn, John Newton, was actually Wilberforce's mentor of many years. The evangelical leader helps Wilberforce when the latter is at a very sharp crossroads in his life, and appears several times in the movie, at different points in Wilberforce's life. Newton is basically the moral compass and advisor to Wilberforce as he goes through troubling times where he doubts not only himself, but also his faith.

For a movie about the British parliamentary process, Amazing Grace does not drag at all. The movie clocks in at nearly two hours, but you won't be checking your watch. The movie balances out time spent in the Parliament room with time spent in Wilberforce's home or time spent with his activist group, the Clapham Sect.
Wilberforce delves very deeply into the abolitionist movement, and while he does things to learn for himself how slaves are treated (such as walling himself into a box the size of a berth in a slave ship), the viewers are also exposed to the horrors of slavery first hand.

There's nothing graphic enough to scare away a weak stomach, but seeing the actual shackles, living conditions and how slaves were treated makes it more personal for both Wilberforce and the viewers he is taking with him on his journey.

Frequent jumps through time also help with the pace of the movie. When the movie starts off in the present day and quickly jumps back in time fifteen years, you can easily see the contrast between the old and young Wilberforce, and you really want to sit back and see just what happened to him in the past to put him in the position he is now in.

That said, the transitions between time periods can be rough. It's nothing as confusing as a predestination paradox in a time travel movie, but you do have to be on your toes with some of the jumps, as a few of them leave you scrambling for a few seconds

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