Michael Apted's Amazing Grace.

[Ambient_Malice]

I was wondering whether any other Escapist members had seen this film. It's an adaptation of the career of William Wilberforce, whose efforts were responsible for helping end the slave trade in Great Britain. (He also co-founded the RSPCA, but the film doesn't mention that.)

It stars Ioan Gruffudd, Benedict Cumberbatch, Michael Gambon, Rufus Sewell, Romola Garai, and an assortment of other superb British actors.

Like many films of its type, there is a fair bit of dispute over the accuracy of events and characters portrayed. Just as Abraham Lincoln films tend to gloss over the bit where Lincoln wanted to deport all the inferior black people, Amazing Grace glosses over issues relating to Wilberforce's alleged racism and support for slavery itself, if not slave trading.

Regardless, taken as a film, it's superbly shot, scored, and acted.

 

[lechat]

I tend not to watch movies where guys wear wigs since they usually all have the same story line (pricilla queen of the desert, court room dramas etc etc.)

 

[lacktheknack]

A bit slow, but I quite enjoyed it anyhow.

It was my go-to movie for a while to demonstrate that using racially charged language does not equal racial condemnation.

 

[Recusant]

I tend not to watch movies where guys wear wigs since they usually all have the same story line (pricilla queen of the desert, court room dramas etc etc.)

Okay, now I have to ask: what kind of courtroom dramas are you watching that they have the same plot as (The Adventures of) Priscilla, Queen of the Desert? I'm picturing a bunch of men in powdered wigs and eighteenth century attire lip synching disco music and wondering why I've done so before.