Amazing Grace

last updated 8 January 2015

Amazing Grace is the best kind of instructional film, said Stephanie Zacharek in Salon.com. Earnest and good-hearted, the story of William Wilberforce's crusade to end Britain's slave trade is a spirit-lifting historical drama. In the future, it will make a terrific video for middle-school civics class. Though certainly oversimplified, and at times unrealistically showy, Michael Apted's film is 'œa love letter to the simple act of taking action.' But an awkward script stymies the dramatic flow of this worthy fight, said Ella Taylor in the LA Weekly. From beginning to end, Wilberforce's bloodless drive to outlaw slavery took 18 years. Screenwriter Steven Knight mixes up time periods with flashbacks and flash-forwards in an attempt to make the extended legal battle more dramatic. But though Wilberforce's parliamentary speeches can be rousing, we never see the actual slavery practices that made him so angry. What's left is plenty of talk, so that 'œwe feel the burden of the exhaustive research' that went into Amazing Grace. 'œSerious-minded and squeaky-clean' as this film is, though, there's 'œsomething unfailingly attractive about a film character so wholly devoted to good,' said Manohla Dargis in The New York Times. So many biopics seek to undermine our heroes' legacies as they glorify them. This one reminds us that the motives toward a righteous goal can be pure.

Rating: PG