Sunday, June 15, 2008

Amazing Grace - the movie....a review

I really wanted to write a review about the movie Amazing Grace because for a long time I didn't want to see it.  It wasn't that it didn't look good, but sometimes when I think a movie might make me cry or might take me on an emotional roller coaster (think Braveheart, Amistad, Schindler's List, etc.),  I stay away from them for a while.  I'm just funny.  Its like I don't want to have a lot on my mind afterward and I don't want to put that much energy into a movie.  Movies for me in general are a way to relax, unwind or veg out for a bit.  Even though I felt like this movie might be that way from all the previews, it really wasn't.  Yes, it did give food for thought, but it was really just a well made and enjoyable movie.  Several of the actors are British ones that I've seen in other period movies that I really like and so I knew the acting would be well done.  The movie itself is about William Wilberforce who was a member of British Parliament in the late 1700s through the early 1800s.  He became the leading English Abolitionist and was instrumental in ending the slave trade in Britain.  This movie is about his political activism in ending slavery.  Rather than being dry and boring, I found this movie to be inspiring, very colorful and realistic.   Just so you know, I did tear up a couple of times because I was deeply moved.  The great thing about it though, is that it doesn't throw you for a loop.  There's not so much of an emotional roller coaster as much as the movie is a touching tribute to what one person can do with deep convictions and the desire to do something about injustice within his scope of influence.  I highly recommend it!  Here are the trailers for the movie and after that are links to more info on William Wilberforce.



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