Little-known abolitionist celebrated (movie)
William Wilberforce is not a household name, particularly in America in the 21 st century.
Unless you are a student of British history or are aware of Ohio’s Wilberforce University, the first private black college in the United States, you aren’t likely to be familiar with the British member of Parliament who led a 30-year struggle to abolish slavery and the slave trade.
That might change in the coming months with the nationwide release of the movie Amazing Grace. (The film was to have been shown Friday, a week ahead of the official release, at Wilberforce University.)
Starring Ioan Gruffudd in the title role, the film is directed by Michael Apted (Coal Miner’s Daughter, The World Is Not Enough, 49 Up) and features an esteemed cast — including Albert Finney, Michael Gambon, Rufus Sewell, Ciaran Hinds and African singer Youssou N’Dour — as real-life characters taken from the history books.
How far the film’s distributors will have to go to build an audience for Amazing Grace can be seen by the fact that even Gruffudd, who grew up in Wales, admitted in a recent phone interview that "I was sort of ignorant that Wilberforce was the reason why the Slave Trade Act came into fruition. I was educated myself by reading the script and going on to play the part."
But, added the actor — who is probably best-known to American audiences for his starring role as Reed Richards, aka Mr. Fantastic, in Fantastic Four and as Horatio Hornblower in a series of imported TV movies — "I’m sure (the film) will be educating a whole new generation of people toward this subject."
That subject is the effort by British abolitionists from the late 1780s through the first decades of the 19 th century to persuade the British public — or at least the male property holders who were the only ones allowed to vote — to end slavery in the British Empire. For tactical reasons, they decided to first attack the slave trade and then take on the issue of slavery.
Wilberforce, the son of a wealthy merchant, was already known as a brilliant orator and deeply pious man when radical abolitionist Thomas Clarkson (Sewell), a former African slave named Oloudah Equiano (N’Dour) and others approached him about joining their cause and leading the fight in the House of Commons. According to the movie, Wilberforce was encouraged in this endeavor by his good friend, Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger (Benedict Cumberbatch), and his minister, John Newton (Finney), a former captain of a slave ship who had renounced slavery and entered the ministry. It was Newton who wrote the famous hymn Amazing Grace, which is featured in the film....
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Unless you are a student of British history or are aware of Ohio’s Wilberforce University, the first private black college in the United States, you aren’t likely to be familiar with the British member of Parliament who led a 30-year struggle to abolish slavery and the slave trade.
That might change in the coming months with the nationwide release of the movie Amazing Grace. (The film was to have been shown Friday, a week ahead of the official release, at Wilberforce University.)
Starring Ioan Gruffudd in the title role, the film is directed by Michael Apted (Coal Miner’s Daughter, The World Is Not Enough, 49 Up) and features an esteemed cast — including Albert Finney, Michael Gambon, Rufus Sewell, Ciaran Hinds and African singer Youssou N’Dour — as real-life characters taken from the history books.
How far the film’s distributors will have to go to build an audience for Amazing Grace can be seen by the fact that even Gruffudd, who grew up in Wales, admitted in a recent phone interview that "I was sort of ignorant that Wilberforce was the reason why the Slave Trade Act came into fruition. I was educated myself by reading the script and going on to play the part."
But, added the actor — who is probably best-known to American audiences for his starring role as Reed Richards, aka Mr. Fantastic, in Fantastic Four and as Horatio Hornblower in a series of imported TV movies — "I’m sure (the film) will be educating a whole new generation of people toward this subject."
That subject is the effort by British abolitionists from the late 1780s through the first decades of the 19 th century to persuade the British public — or at least the male property holders who were the only ones allowed to vote — to end slavery in the British Empire. For tactical reasons, they decided to first attack the slave trade and then take on the issue of slavery.
Wilberforce, the son of a wealthy merchant, was already known as a brilliant orator and deeply pious man when radical abolitionist Thomas Clarkson (Sewell), a former African slave named Oloudah Equiano (N’Dour) and others approached him about joining their cause and leading the fight in the House of Commons. According to the movie, Wilberforce was encouraged in this endeavor by his good friend, Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger (Benedict Cumberbatch), and his minister, John Newton (Finney), a former captain of a slave ship who had renounced slavery and entered the ministry. It was Newton who wrote the famous hymn Amazing Grace, which is featured in the film....