Is the movie Amazing Grace an amazing movie? Or a disappointment?
On the positive side, we found the film to be beautifully made, with virtually no "cheese factor" to be found. It is well made and engaging, interesting, moving and educational. We thought it was one of the better movies we have seen in quite awhile. It demonstrates that as Christians we are to fight injustice not just through our hearts and heads, but through our hands as well via the political processes available to us.
We also see a powerful, popular politician grapple with his faith and take an unpopular stand with it rather than use it as a tool for self-exaltation and self-promotion. And we get a glimpse of a nation’s elites who are more concerned about financial prosperity than human rights, as well as the differences of opinion among abolitionists with regard to the degree of compomise acceptable to gradually phase out the horrid practice of slavery. And to the astute observer, the unspoken similarity among the political issues of slavery and modern day abortion do not, we hope, go unnoticed.
It also serves to illustrate that we are to use our gifts, opportunities, and talents in different arenas. At one point Wilberforce considers leaving politics and becoming something of a monk, but John Newton advises Wilberforce that he should stay in the fight in the political arena because he is likelable, suggesting he will be more effective using those gifts to carry the water in the political fight against slavery while others carry the fight elsewhere.
On the downside, The story told emphasizes the political fight with glimpses into the spiritual roots of the movement, so if you’re expecting to see the emphasis on the spiritual story with the political story in the backdrop or sidebar, you may be disappointed.
To that end, although we had read enough to know the movie was really about Wilberforce rather than John Newton, we were surprised to find that Newton is a relatively minor figure where screen time is concerned (although certainly a major figure in terms of infuence upon Wilberforce in the movie). Wilberforce and Newton are both tremendous figures and both deserve to have their individual stories accurately portrayed in feature films. Perhaps the title "Amazing Grace" should have been reserved for the story of John Newton, and another title generated for this film about William Wilberforce, with both films intersecting at two or three points along the way.
Also, Wilberforce almost seems at times out of step with his contemporaries in the movie more for his commitment to the protection of animals rather than his commitment to Christianity. He may have been a theological conservative and political liberal in the day, but the latter seems to get more airtime than the former. It seems his faith could have been better integrated into the story without making the movie one dimensional, and might have in fact helped balance out the political versus the spiritual.
It was also disappointing that while the song is mentioned several times in the film, if we recall corrrectly only the first stanza is actually sung (first at an assembly and then again during Wilberforce’s wedding) and the stirring finale is entirely instrumental. Given the powerful lyrics of the song (and we’re talking about all the stanzas Newton wrote, not just those celebrities choose to sing) it seems a shame there wasn’t found a moving way at the end of the film to enable viewers to hear and read the entire song against the backdrop of what had previously transpired between Newton, Wilberforce, and the abolition battle, particularly given that the name of the song was used as a premise for the film’s storyline.
Nonetheless, we do highly recommend the film and while it could have done a better job of stressing the Christian roots of the abolition movement and more thoroughly developed and emphasized the character of John Newton as well as the spriritual depth of Wilberforce, the result is still a movie worth seeing. It at least gives viewers something to think about and study further, even if it doesn’t go as far as many of us would have liked. It’s a positive portrayal of a talented man with convictions rooted in the gospel who stands tall when few will stand with him. We hope Walden Media will continue to explore this type of cinematic territory.
