From acclaimed director Michael Apted comes Amazing Grace, a moving historical epic about the life of antislavery pioneer William Wilberforce. Ioan Gruffudd 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.
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 is Lord Fox, an MP who is convinced by Wilberforce to join the fight against the slave trade. Rufus Sewell plays Thomas Clarkson, one of Wilberforce’s allies in the antislavery 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. 2006, 35mm, 111 minutes.
