Amazing Grace is a 2006 British-American biographical drama film directed by Michael Apted, about the campaign against the slave trade in the British Empire, led by William Wilberforce, who was responsible for steering anti-slave trade legislation through the British parliament. The title is a reference to the 1772 hymn Amazing Grace . The film also recounts the experiences of John Newton as a crewman on a slave ship and subsequent religious conversion, which inspired his writing of the poem later used in the hymn. Newton is portrayed as a major influence on Wilberforce and the abolition movement.

The film premièred on 16 September 2006 at the Toronto International Film Festival, followed by showings at the Heartland Film Festival, the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, and the European Film Market, before opening in wide US release on 23 February 2007, which coincided with the 200th anniversary of the date the British parliament voted to ban the slave trade.

Plot

In 1797, William Wilberforce is severely ill and taking a recuperative holiday in Bath, Somerset, with his cousin, Henry Thornton. It is here that Wilberforce is introduced to his future wife, Barbara Spooner. Although he initially resists any romantic overtures, she convinces him to relate the story of his career.

The story flashes back 15 years to 1782, and Wilberforce recounts the events that led him to where he is now. Beginning as a young, ambitious, and popular Member of Parliament (MP), he experiences a religious enlightenment and aligns himself with the evangelical wing of the Church of England. Wilberforce contemplates leaving politics to study theology, but is persuaded by his friends William Pitt, Thomas Clarkson, Hannah More, and Olaudah Equiano that he will be more effective doing the work of God by taking on the unpopular and dangerous issue of the abolition of the British slave trade. His conviction in the cause deepens following a meeting with his former mentor John Newton (introduced mopping a church floor dressed in sackcloth) who is said to live in the company of 20,000 ghosts… slaves . As a former slave ship captain turned Christian, he deeply regrets his past life and the effects on his fellow man. Newton urges Wilberforce to take up the cause.

Pitt becomes Prime Minister and Wilberforce becomes a key supporter and confidant. Pitt gives Wilberforce the opportunity to present a bill before the house outlawing the slave trade. Wilberforce s passionate campaigning leads him to become highly unpopular in the House of Commons. He is opposed by a coalition of MPs representing vested interests of the slave trade in London, Bristol, Glasgow, and Liverpool led by Banastre Tarleton and the Duke of Clarence. Despite popular support and the assistance of an unlikely ally in the form of Charles James Fox, Wilberforce s bill to abolish the slave trade goes down to defeat. Afterward, the film portrays Pitt as one of his few friends and allies remaining in Parliament, however even their relationship becomes strained. Pitt, now facing the stresses of leading a shaky coalition during the French Revolutionary Wars, tells Wilberforce that his cause must now wait for a more stable political climate.

Wilberforce keeps up the fight but after years of failure he is left exhausted and frustrated that he was unable to change anything in the government. Believing his life s work has been in vain, he becomes physically ill, suffering from chronic colitis which causes him to become addicted to laudanum prescribed for the crippling pain, which brings the story back up to 1797. Having virtually given up hope, Wilberforce considers leaving politics forever. Barbara convinces him to keep fighting because there is no other person who is willing or able to do so. A few days afterward, William Wilberforce and Barbara marry. Several years pass with no further success. Wilberforce s wife and new children provide him with the support and strength needed to carry on the fight.

Finally, with a renewed hope for success Wilberforce devises a backdoor method of slowly weakening the slave trade through seemingly innocuous legislation. Aided by Thornton, Clarkson, and new ally James Stephen and cheered on by the now terminally ill Pitt, he reintroduces his bill to abolish the slave trade. In time, after the 20-year campaign and many attempts to bring legislation forward, he is eventually responsible for a bill being passed through Parliament in 1807, which abolishes the slave trade in the British Empire forever.

Cast

• Ioan Gruffudd as William Wilberforce
• Romola Garai as Barbara Spooner
• Benedict Cumberbatch as William Pitt the Younger
• Albert Finney as John Newton
• Michael Gambon as Charles James Fox
• Rufus Sewell as Thomas Clarkson
• Youssou N Dour as Olaudah Equiano
• Ciarán Hinds as Banastre Tarleton
• Toby Jones as William, Duke of Clarence
• Nicholas Farrell as Henry Thornton
• Sylvestra Le Touzel as Marianne Thornton
• Jeremy Swift as Richard the Butler
• Stephen Campbell Moore as James Stephen
• Bill Paterson as Henry Dundas
• Nicholas Day as Sir William Dolben
• Georgie Glen as Hannah More

Production

The film was shot primarily in Hull, Yorkshire. Baker s Quay, which forms part of the Parliament Docks on the Gloucester and Sharpness Canal, was used as a backdrop against which to recreate the atmosphere of the East India Docks in London circa 1780. Shooting took place during October 2005 and involved the tall ships, Kaskelot, Earl of Pembroke, Johanna Lucretia and Phoenix. During January 2006, the scenes from The Houses of Parliament were shot at the 1743 Church within Chatham Historic Dockyard. The wedding scene was filmed at Garsington Church.

A number of outside scenes were shot at the former Greenwich Hospital, now part of the University of Greenwich and around Salisbury, Wiltshire.

Executive Producer is Jeanney Kim, with Mark Cooper as co-producer. Producers on the film are Terrence Malick (The Thin Red Line) and Ed Pressman under their Sunflower Productions banner, Patricia Heaton and David Hunt for FourBoys Films, and Ken Wales.

Music

• Amazing Grace (soundtrack)
• Amazing Grace (score)

Music Supervisor Lindsay Fellows Produced the Inspired By Christian Soundtrack featuring the #1 Single Amazing Grace (My Chains Are Gone) by Chris Tomlin.

Reception

Box office

Amazing Grace brought in a little over $4 million at the US box office over its opening weekend of 23–25 February 2007, making it the 10th-highest-grossing film for the weekend, behind such new releases as The Astronaut Farmer and The Number 23. As of 26 August 2007 the film had $32,050,774.

Critical response

Amazing Grace received positive reviews. Philip French described the film as not exactly innovative and compared it to earnestly worthy prewar Warner Brothers cinebiographies . Overall he called it a very decent contribution to the present bicentennial celebrations of the parliamentary bill that outlawed the slave trade in the British empire . Wally Hammond writing for Time Out singled out Benedict Cumberbatch s performance for praise saying his performance quietly upstaged the fine performance of Gruffudd. The Guardian gave it a C− for the entertainment value and an A− for its historical accuracy.

Review aggregation website Rotten Tomatoes gives the film a score of 67% based on review from 126 critics, with an average rating of 6.50/10. According to the website, the film is your quintessential historical biopic: stately, noble, and with plenty of electrifying performances . Metacritic gives the film a 65 out of 100, based on reviews from 29 critics, indicating generally favorable reviews .

Awards and nominations

Year	Award	Category	Nominated work	Result
2008	Evening Standard British Film Awards	Best Screenplay	Steven Knight	Nominated
2008	London Film Critics Circle	British Breakthrough – Acting	Benedict Cumberbatch	Nominated
2008	Christopher Award	Feature Film	Amazing Grace	Won
2008	Genesis Awards	Outstanding Feature Film		Nominated
2007	Humanitas Prize	Feature Film		Nominated
2007	Satellite Award	Production Design	David Allday Matthew Gray Charles Wood	Nominated
		Best Costume Design	Jenny Beavan	Nominated

Year	2006
ReleaseDate	2007-02-23
RuntimeMins	118
RuntimeStr	1h 58min
Plot	The idealist William Wilberforce (Ioan Gruffudd) maneuvers his way through Parliament, endeavoring to end the British transatlantic slave trade.
Awards	Awards, 3 wins & 6 nominations
Directors	Michael Apted
Writers	Steven Knight
Stars	Ioan Gruffudd, Albert Finney, Michael Gambon
Produced by	James Clayton,Mark Cooper,Micheal Flaherty,Patricia Heaton,David Hunt,Jeanney Kim,Terrence Malick,Edward R. Pressman,Duncan Reid,Ken Wales
Music by	David Arnold
Cinematography by	Remi Adefarasin
Film Editing by	Rick Shaine
Casting By	Nina Gold
Production Design by	Charles Wood
Art Direction by	David Allday,Stephen Bream,Matthew Gray
Set Decoration by	Eliza Solesbury
Costume Design by	Jenny Beavan
Makeup Department	Jo Adams,Jacqueline Bhavnani,Sharon Colley,Mandy Gold,Jon Henry Gordon,Susan Howard,Julie Kendrick,Katie Lee,Loulia Sheppard,Jenny Shircore,Barbara Taylor,Julia Vernon,Suzanne Jansen,Jenny Shircore,Barbara Taylor
Production Management	Tom Crooke,Jeffrey Harlacker,Angus More Gordon,Graham Stumpf,Marisa Clayton,Douglas Jones
Second Unit Director or Assistant Director	Paul Bennett,Barney Hughes,Olivia Lloyd,Vicky Marks,Alex Oakley,Lance Roehrig,Deborah Saban,Danny McGrath
Art Department	Joe Alley,Steven Bede,Perry Bell,Mat Bergel,John Bohan,Tim Browning,Bob Cann,Darryl Carter,Lisa Chugg,Fiona Clarke,Graham Cole,Bernard Collins,Nigel Crafts,Adam Crosby,Ben Crosby,Ray Dell,Romek Delmata,Paul Dennis,Mark Dowling,Clive Drinkall,Paul Duff,Colin Ellis,Jools Faiers,Nico Ferrari,Michael Finlay,Gordon Fitzgerald,Robert Flint,Sarah Forbes,David Fullbrook,Nick Goodall,Gavin Gordon,Warren Greenham,Alan Grenham,Peter Grove,Jessie Hammond,Mark Hedges,Terry Heggarty,Roger Holden,Jason Hopperton,Tony Horsefield,Christian Huband,Jonathan Ivall,Nicky Kaill,Peter Kane,John Keenan,Scott Keery,George King,David Lowery,Bernie Mayor,Richard A. McCarthy,Sean McCarthy,Eamon McLoughlin,David Mears,James Muir,Eric Nash,Geoff Nolan,Roy O Brien,John O Connor,John O Regan,Mark Overall,Steve Payne,Douglas Regan,John Russo,Bob Sherwood,Mike Smith,Paul Smith,Ray Staples,Matthew Start,Nic Stubbings,Jeff Sullivan,Jim Taylor,Tony Vice,Clive Ward,Kenneth Welland,William West,Steve Weston Jr.,Matt Whelan,Paul Whitelock,Julie Whorlow,Peter Wilkinson,Darrell Williams,David Williamson,Ashley Winter,Paul Wolstencroft,Bradley Woodbridge,Colin Woodbridge,Tony Wright,Helen Xenopoulos,David Youngs,Daniel Elias,Lee Hedges,Dougie Lankston,Toby Shears,Keith Stevenson
Sound Department	Petra Bach,Jason Bennett,David Betancourt,Keith Bilderbeck,Colin Cooper,Steve Finn,Dawn Fintor,David Giammarco,Peter Gleaves,Tim Gomillion,Jim Greenhorn,Larry Hopkins,Robert Ireland,Jon Johnson,David Lucarelli,Paul Massey,Ian Munro,Bryan Pennington,Charleen Richards,Dennis Rogers,Brad Sokol,William Stein,Alicia Stevenson,Bruce Stubblefield,Robert Troy,Derek Casari,Nina Hartstone
Special Effects by	Stuart Brisdon,Mark Haddenham,David McGeary,Tez Palmer,Nigel Wilkinson
Visual Effects by	Murray Barber,Will Broadbent,Izet Buco,Greg Butler,Naomi Butler,Mark Curtis,Giles Davies,Laura Dubsky,Jonathan East,Shayne Farrier,Matt Foster,Roger Gibbon,David Gibbons,Jami Gigot,Lisa Gonzalez,Lionel Heath,Richard Helliwell,Henrik Holmberg,Vlad Holst,Ryan Hutchings,Stephen Jolley,Drew Jones,Peng Ke,John Leonti,Christopher Lloyd,Hugh Macdonald,Alan McCabe,Nakia McGlynn,Alasdair McNeill,Dylan Murray,Dan Neal,Jessica Norman,Mike Outlaw,Simon Payne,Becky Roberts,Vi Smith,Piotr Stanczyk,Julia Stannard,Mark Streatfield,David Sudd,Claire Thomson,Chris Thunig,Mark Tremble,Melody Woodford,Paul Alexiou,Oliver Armstrong,Tim Barter,Stephen Bearman,Stuart Bullen,Jon Capleton,Patrick Clancey,Amit Desai,Martyn Drake,Michael Elson,Marc Hutchings,Owen Jones,Gary Marshall,Thomas Mathai,Javad Matoorian-Pour,Ryan Mullany,Martin Newcombe,Adrian Pinder,John Purdie,James Russell,Laurel Schneider,Paul Shore,Danita Slaughter,Paul Venn Stirling,Dan Warder,Tamara Watts Kent,Chris Wilson,Oliver Winwood,Anna Yamazoe
Stunts	Mark Henson,Rob Inch
Camera and Electrical Department	Ben Adefarasin,John Adefarasin,Rene Adefarasin,Steve Anthony,David Appleby,John Arnold,Chris Bain,Sam Barnes,Ray Bateman,Les Beaver,Stuart Bunting,Tony Burns,David Cadwallader,Keith Carey,Chris Clarke,Murray Close,David Cozens,Frederick Crawford,Nic Cupac,Laurence Edwards,Simon Finney,Mark Funnell,Guy Hammond,Gary Hutchings,William Keenan,Martin Kenzie,Stuart King,Andrew Lawrence,Oliver Loncraine,Clive Mackey,Tobias Marshall,Ray Meere,Paul Molloy,Russell O Connor,Gary Parnham,Ben Perry,George Powell,Benjamin Pritchard,Gary Romaine,Colin Smith,Brian Sullivan,Andy Thompson,Alf Tramontin,Ben Wilson,Ben Wilson,Jimmy Wilson,David Worley,Joe McGee,Taylor Tulip-Close
Casting Department	Abigail Barbier,Louis Elman,Stephen Moore
Costume and Wardrobe Department	Sam Brooke-Taylor,Georgina Greathead,Joe Kowalewski,Rodney Langer-Paget,Charlotte Law,Stephen Miles,Sophie Norinder,David Otzen,Sunita Singh,Clare Spragge,Vanessa Woolgar,Rob Brown,Kate Newbold,Lora E. Revitt,Celia Yau
Editorial Department	Terra Bliss,Gary Burritt,Kathryn Cole,Michael Eaves,Martin C. Heselov,Chris Jensen,Toby Lloyd,Jason Miller,Jami Philbrick,Stephen R. Sheridan,Trudy Yee,Greg Barrett,Rebecca Budds,Brian George,Ryan Helsley,Robb Porter,Jesse Wagler
Location Management	Gilly Case,Chris Cranstoun,Bill Darby,Teresa Darby,Martin Joy,Dougal Cousins,Andrew Dalmahoy,Clodagh Tierney
Music Department	David Arch,Mark Berrow,John Bradbury,Chris Cozens,Nicholas Dodd,The Dufay Collective,Dina Eaton,Lindsay Fellows,Andrew Findon,Olga FitzRoy,Geoff Foster,Dan Gillingwater,Paul Gladstone Reid,Isobel Griffiths,Jonathan Andrew Hume,Jake Jackson,Pete Lockett,Daryl Moulton,New Renaissance Choir,Rob Playford,Allen Walley,Bruce White,Jonathan Williams,Warren Zielinski,George Acogny,Johnny Caruso,Dave Foster
Script and Continuity Department	Angela Wharton
Transportation Department	Phil Allchin,Trevor Atkin,Waseem Barlas,Colin Bressington,John Burden,Alan Burrows,John Coleman,Peter Collins,Colin Davies,Michael Harris,John Hollywood,Martin Lewis,Colin Morris,Richard Ong,Abbi Ozturk,Finn Parker,Duncan Prentis,Terry Rhys,Mark Richards,Eddie Saunders,Albert Smith,Alan Watts
Additional Crew	Colette Appleby,Holly Asquith,Guy Barker,Kevin Belmonte,Bob Beltz,Alison Brister,Hannah Brown,Chorley Bunce,Helen Chapman,Kazuko Cowley,R.H. Davies,Kate Davis,Emma Dent,Steve Dent,Sara Dony,Mark Fielding,Linda Gamble,Hannah Godwin,Anne Marie Gormley,Bob Gowland,Liz Gutierrez,Robin Hilton,Emily Hobbs,David Howard,Diane Howard,Paula Jack,Paula Jalfon,Esther Kelly,Cort Kristensen,Matthew Lee,Donna McCormick-Smith,Steve Morphew,Clarissa Newman,David Parlett,Amelia Price,David Redhead,Charlie Reed,Steve Ricard,Catherine Rushworth,Ben Schoen,Laura Sevier,Julie Shapiro,Cara Sheppard,Bertie Spiegelberg,Jane Steele,Katharine Tidy,Gemma Todd Smithers,Jenny Uglow,Lesley Wise,Joanne Woodward,Tonia Wright,Sharyn Yau,Cassandra Barbour,Julie Brinkman,Sam Dent,Evan Feuerman,Christopher Fosh,Samantha Gardner,Matthew Jenkins,Mark Joseph,Forbes KB,Sarah Ramey,Laura Sevier,Tracey Taylor,Nashia Wachsman
Thanks	Balmoral Pipes & Drums,Peter Bourke,William Cochrane,Zach Hunter,The Irish Guards Pipe Band,Mark D. Rodgers
Genres	Biography, Drama, History
Companies	Bristol Bay Productions, Ingenious Film Partners, Sunflower Productions
Countries	USA, UK
Languages	English
ContentRating	PG
ImDbRating	7.4
ImDbRatingVotes	24923
MetacriticRating	65
Keywords	pregnancy,christian feminism,slave,slave trade,abolition