"Amazing Grace" - The Movie

OK - If you did not see it in the theatre, or rent it on DVD yet, I'm telling you - you NEED to watch the movie "Amazing Grace." Go rent it - right now! Seriously!

Here's the trailer:



It is the true story of a man named William Wilberforce. An abolitionist in the English Parliament who fought for years for the end of the slave trade. When he first entered the political arena, there was some support for his position, though never enough. Then, when war broke out with France, promoting abolition became near treason and his support almost completely dried up.

There is a scene in the film during this time period (the war with France) where William Wilberforce is standing alone in Parliament SHOUTING at the top of his lungs his message of abolition while nearly everyone else in Parliament is shouting back at him to shut up and take his seat. He was one man - alone against many - speaking for those who had no voice. It was an incredible scene, an inspiring scene. Here is a man who was willing to do the right thing, no matter the cost to him personally.

He was a man of faith. In fact he wrestled over entering the ministry or politics. For twenty years he fought an uphill battle to overturn the acceptance of the slave trade within the English empire. A large part of his success was because he had the strength and fortitude, based on the convictions of his faith, to never allow his voice to be silenced. His lone voice was the conscience for an entire nation, prodding action to be taken against an incredibly inhuman practice. Though he suffered countless defeats, and even his personal health suffered, he never gave up - he never lost site of his goal. He refused to be silenced.

John Newton plays a role as a mentor in William Wilberforce's life. John Newton was a former slave ship captain who became a Christian and left that lifestyle. He went on to become a minister and pen the words to the great hymn everyone knows still today called "Amazing Grace." The discussions between Newton and Wilberforce in the movie are powerful. In Newton, you see a man filled with regret and remorse over his previous lifestyle. When he wrote "a wretch like me" he really meant it. He talks about his "20,000 ghosts." But, in his life, he experienced God's amazing grace and it changed him completely.

I can't say enough about this movie - except you need to see it. If you're squeamish, another thing I really liked about this movie is that it is not graphic. There are a couple times where they describe what the ocean passage was like for the slaves, and what life was like, if they survived the trip, in captivity. And this is enough - sometimes when we use our own imagination to fill in the gaps of what is being described it is more powerful than having it graphically displayed on the screen. This was one of those times, for me anyway.

See the movie. And then ask yourself what lessons can you draw from it for your own life? For your own faith? What can you apply? And, maybe be so bold as to ask yourself, "how can I change the world?"