Amazing Grace (2006)

 

Amazing Grace (2006)

“I need an answer, Wilbur. Do you intend to use your beautiful voice to praise the Lord or change the world?”

"Mr. Wilberforce, we understand that you are having problems choosing to do the work of God or the work of a political activist.”

"We humbly suggest that you can do both.”

-Amazing Grace (2006)

It is providential how God's grace enters our lives at the precise moment it is needed. Unexpectedly changing our perspectives in the midst of routines that have trapped us in cycles of complacency and forgetfulness. Now, imagine for a moment that God-given grace arriving centuries after the diminishment of an entire race, down to nothing more than slaves to be bought and sold. In reality though, the mind's eye is not required for this experiment. For, it was never an imagined state, mournfully it was a tragic reality of everyday life. So, all that is required of us, is a look back into the annals of history. Where, someone's seemingly obvious choice to perceive a person's innate dignity, changes the course of history, yet again.
You know what, even though I’m speaking of history, I may be getting ahead of myself here. Our choices are important, but it is how we execute them that ultimately defines who we are, and what we can accomplish. That is what separates William Wilberforce from his apathetic contemporaries. Wilberforce, choose to face the accepted norm of slavery and ask why?
Wilberforce's choices were indeed a great departure from the prevailing thought of his time. Though, greatness is perhaps too strong a word for William Wilberforce. Not because of his lack of importance to the abolition of the English slave trade, but because he would seemingly not hold to such a self-aggrandizing affirmation. While it is true that he held parliamental office, and was close friends with Britain's Prime Minister, Wilberforce's resilience was not found in the seeking after power, but in his persistent pursuit of seeking after the rights and dignities of every human person, as a beloved son or daughter of God. Even in a society where slavery was nothing more than routine, an accepted consequence of life. Wilberforce persisted with the aid of many others, in the eradication of this evil, not because they all longed for greatness, but because it was the right thing to do.
Regarding its filmic merits, Amazing Grace reflects the stalwart perseverance of its biographical subject, with a grace and respect that may, at times come across as a biopic in the process of routine. If, however, this is true here, the routine manifests itself as a feature not a detriment. Wilberforce’s battle against slavery and the slave trade in the late 18th and early 19th century, is a fight against the very nature of accepted norms. So the film is representative of that normality, both tonally and stylistically. In the societal context of the film, slavery is neither praised nor punished, it just is. As a result, the film's visuals do not call attention to it in any real way.
It is a cinematic choice then, that emphasizes the complacency of evil in the film. However, where there is an evil, there must also be the possibility of an unperverted good and so, Amazing Grace offers us that hope as well. It's no wonder that Wilberforce challenges the societal apathetic malaise of slavery, with a subtle strength and perseverance. Allowing for his burgeoning Christian faith to show forth in a unique battle stance, one reminiscent of a master versus an apprentice. In other words, evil cannot create so it copies, and in so doing, it perverts that copy. However, that doesn't mean the original form is corrupted. Far from it, Wilberforce and his allies then use perseverance to combat its perversion, complacency. In turn this gives voice to the power of God, and the nature of amazing grace.
With Amazing Grace, director Michael Apted and his team powerfully show us the consequences of complacency, and the need for perseverance in order to combat it. For sadly, as the prolonged evil of slavery suggests, complacency is not easily overcome. That's why Wilberforce’s successes give us hope. They offer us a capacity for change, and reveal to us the Amazing Grace propelling that engine of change.

"I once was lost, but now am found, was blind but now I see."

-Amazing Grace, by John Newton, 1772

Rated PG for thematic material involving slavery, and some mild language

I found Amazing Grace to be thematically rich, thought-provoking and meaningful. I hope in some way you do too.

Amazing Grace can be streamed on the Angel Studios app with a subscription. It is also available to be purchased on any digital video streaming service. It can be purchased physically on DVD and Blu-ray disc.

If you wish to explore over 170 film reviews and multimedia essays, my blog archive can be found at this link: Hour 21

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