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Monday, February 19, 2007 03:43:26 AM
NEWS Amazing Grace Out February 23rd
From acclaimed director Michael Apted (The World is Not Enough, Coal Miner's Daughter)
comes Amazing
Grace, a moving historical epic about the life of antislavery pioneer William
Wilberforce.
Ioan Gruffudd (Black Hawk Down, Fantastic Four) plays Wilberforce, a man born
into the age of the Great British Empire when the country's influence around
the globe was at its most powerful. It was, however, an age when the rumblings
of social discontent were emerging, and a time when reformers faced an uphill
struggle to be heard.
A good friend of England's youngest Prime Minister, William Pitt the Younger
(Benedict Cumberbatch, To the Ends of the Earth), Wilberforce is elected to
the House of Commons at the age of 21, and entrusted by Pitt with the cause
for the Abolition of Slavery.
In spite of his preternatural political prowess, Wilberforce finds himself
torn between his successful rising career and his desire to give it all up for a
life of spirituality. He seeks the advice of friend and mentor John Newton
(Academy Award Nominee Albert Finney, Erin Brockovich), a former slave
trader who turned to the Church in order to atone for his earlier life, who suggests
that his best way for Wilberforce to serve God would be to fight injustice with his
political influence. Inspired by Newton, Wilberforce quickly becomes the rallying voice
in Parliament for a fragmented group of like-minded people to fight the cause and make
the people of Britain, and ultimately the world, acknowledge the horror of the Slave Trade.
Amazing
Grace follows Wilberforce's career through his 20's and 30's, as he and his fellow
humanitarians make the issue of slavery a talking point, not only in political circles,
but also throughout the country. They wage the first modern political campaign, using
petitions, boycotts, mass meetings and even badges with slogans to take their message
to the country at large.
Boasting a terrific ensemble cast,
Amazing
Grace also stars Romola Garai as Barbara Spooner, the beautiful and headstrong young
woman who shares Wilberforce's passion for reform, and who becomes his wife after a
whirlwind courtship. Michael Gambon (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban)
is Lord Fox, an MP that is convinced by Wilberforce to join the fight against
the slave trade. Rufus Sewell (Legend of Zorro) plays Thomas Clarkson,
one of Wilberforce's allies in the anti-slavery movement, and Grammy winning
Senegalese singer Youssou N'Dour is Olaudah Equiano, an African sent as a slave
to the Colonies who bought his freedom and made his home in London where he became a leading figure in the fight to end the slavery of his fellow countrymen.
From acclaimed director Michael Apted (The World is Not Enough, Coal Miner's Daughter)
comes 