Amazing Grace

A well intentioned disappointment. Tapping into the 200th anniversary of the passing of the Act for the Abolition of the Slave Trade in the British Empire this film was supposedly about the motivation of Wilberforce as the leading light in the campaign. However, it was too much of a muddle. There was too much of individual characters filling in a great deal of background rather than allowing the plot and the visuals of the film demonstrating it. So William's wife to be discourses on methods by saying ' Yes, I refused to take sugar in my tea, and oh here is my button which says - Am I Not a Human Being and A Brother?' There was too little context - it didn't show the depth and breadth of the mass movement of support. I didn't get the excitement or drama of the speeches made in the House of Commons - and can I just ask how on earth did the Duke of Clarence come to be in the House of Commons? Surely a Lord if ever there was one! I got no real sense of the horrors of slavery and how he was convinced of the evilness of the trade.
Finally, although Wilberforce was motivated by religion I got absolutely no sense of his spirituality and conviction nor of the depth of belief that drove the whole movement.
Rating - only 6/10