Britain’s Slave Empire, as the Sun Set (NYT review/Amazing Grace)
ON March 25, 1807, Britain ended its participation in the slave trade. The move hardly absolved the country of the sin of having shipped millions of Africans to the New World for sale as chattels. But it was nonetheless a rare point of light in one of the darkest chapters of human history, and it set in motion the gradual emancipation of slaves across the Americas.
Now, two centuries later, the story of how William Wilberforce and a handful of other Quaker activists persuaded a reluctant British Parliament to abolish the slave trade is retold in Michael Apted’s new movie, “Amazing Grace,” which will be released in the United States on Friday. It is a story of good versus evil in which, after endless setbacks, the world ends up a better place.
Yet the question remains: Can a film on such a weighty topic connect with today’s filmgoers?
In Britain, where “Amazing Grace” is set to open next month, this should be possible: not so much because audiences are used to seeing British actors in whiskers and waistcoats re-enacting historical dramas, but because the British government is using the anniversary to promote high school courses, exhibitions and debates about the slave trade.
“You can’t go anywhere in Britain without hearing about racism,” Mr. Apted said. “I think people are ready for the film.”
Elsewhere, however, 1807 is less significant. In the United States, for instance, the watershed date in the fight against slavery is of course Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation of 1863. Every country once involved in trafficking, importing or exploiting slaves — and there were at least a score — remembers its own moment of moral reawakening. And outside Britain, Wilberforce is hardly a household name.
Still, the makers of “Amazing Grace” say their movie raises broader issues.
For Steven Knight, the film’s British screenwriter, public opinion was for the first time mobilized to press for social reform with the campaign for the abolition of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. In that sense the use of petitions (including one carrying 390,000 signatures), public meetings, books and pamphlets heralded the birth of modern democratic politics.
Mr. Apted saw an opportunity to emphasize the importance of politics, then and now. “I wanted to do a story about the corridors of power,” he said by telephone from Washington, where he was promoting “Amazing Grace.” “I am trying to shine a light on the value of politics.”
For its part Bristol Bay Productions, which financed the $28 million production and favors, in its own words, “uplifting stories,” is looking to communicate a more urgent message. Coinciding with the movie’s release the company, owned by the American billionaire Philip F. Anschutz, has started a campaign called Amazing Change to raise awareness of the continuing existence of slavery around the world.
Read entire article at Alan Riding in the NYT
Now, two centuries later, the story of how William Wilberforce and a handful of other Quaker activists persuaded a reluctant British Parliament to abolish the slave trade is retold in Michael Apted’s new movie, “Amazing Grace,” which will be released in the United States on Friday. It is a story of good versus evil in which, after endless setbacks, the world ends up a better place.
Yet the question remains: Can a film on such a weighty topic connect with today’s filmgoers?
In Britain, where “Amazing Grace” is set to open next month, this should be possible: not so much because audiences are used to seeing British actors in whiskers and waistcoats re-enacting historical dramas, but because the British government is using the anniversary to promote high school courses, exhibitions and debates about the slave trade.
“You can’t go anywhere in Britain without hearing about racism,” Mr. Apted said. “I think people are ready for the film.”
Elsewhere, however, 1807 is less significant. In the United States, for instance, the watershed date in the fight against slavery is of course Abraham Lincoln’s Emancipation Proclamation of 1863. Every country once involved in trafficking, importing or exploiting slaves — and there were at least a score — remembers its own moment of moral reawakening. And outside Britain, Wilberforce is hardly a household name.
Still, the makers of “Amazing Grace” say their movie raises broader issues.
For Steven Knight, the film’s British screenwriter, public opinion was for the first time mobilized to press for social reform with the campaign for the abolition of the trans-Atlantic slave trade. In that sense the use of petitions (including one carrying 390,000 signatures), public meetings, books and pamphlets heralded the birth of modern democratic politics.
Mr. Apted saw an opportunity to emphasize the importance of politics, then and now. “I wanted to do a story about the corridors of power,” he said by telephone from Washington, where he was promoting “Amazing Grace.” “I am trying to shine a light on the value of politics.”
For its part Bristol Bay Productions, which financed the $28 million production and favors, in its own words, “uplifting stories,” is looking to communicate a more urgent message. Coinciding with the movie’s release the company, owned by the American billionaire Philip F. Anschutz, has started a campaign called Amazing Change to raise awareness of the continuing existence of slavery around the world.