Amazing Grace (2007) |
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  Sat, Mar 24, 2007 | Change  
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    The movie emerges in the end as a stirring and -Coming soon to a social studies class near you.
The movie is the usual kind of film biography of a respected figure from the distant past -
Although the film does skirt the edge of preachiness at times, you certainly can't argue with the basic human decency that it's preaching.
Though it's not as inspiring as its makers might have wished, it's a solid, respectful treatment of a significant episode in the anti-Amazing Grace marks an unforgettable and regrettable time in world history while highlighting a few who valiantly set out to right the wrongs.
 What makes William Wilberforce a great man is also what makes him a bore: He's possessed of such intractable single-Sanitized version of the career and life of William Wilberforce, who thought that the uncouth behavior of slaves was a greater sin than slavery itself. Pure hagiography and an assault on the historical record.
Amazing Grace's examination of men in power moved to change risks ridicule and righteousness for a smart take on history.
History purists will find the details enchanting, period drama fanatics will adore the arm's-Amazing Grace may not accomplish the depth of poignancy inherent in its subject, but it's a steady effort.
This compelling bio-
It's clear that the filmmakers believe a movie about political debate has to have a lot of speechifying. Consequently, it's so talky that it gradually loses our interest, which is a real shame.
[Director] Apted gives the movie a reasonably good period feel. Working with an obviously limited budget, it feels like something you might see on the History Channel, but that's not necessarily a knock.
Steven Knight's ponderous script is front-Director Michael Apted and screenwriter Steven Knight can't help letting a little sanctification take hold -It is one of the world's great songs, and now it has a worthy movie to go with it.
[Director Michael Apted] has an unfortunate penchant for bland stateliness, and never more so than in Amazing Grace.
History as one might wish it to be taught to an earnest child.
Steven Knight has enlivened what might have been workmanlike, spiced the romance with wit, spiked the period-
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Average Rating: 6.5/10
[Apted's] picture, openhearted and enthusiastic, is partly an ode to Wilberforce and partly a love letter to the simple act of taking action.
Director Michael Apted tells the story with dry devotion to parliamentary procedurals and a worshipful approach to Wilberforce. But [actor] Gruffudd lacks the intensity and charisma to pull it off.
It is to be hoped that Amazing Grace is not the only, or the last, cinematic celebration of 200th anniversary of abolition, for there are more stories to tell, more imaginatively.
Director Michael Apted and his team understand the challenges of this kind of story and have met them with intelligence and energy. [He] has managed to be true to the outsized emotions of the story without giving way to sentimentality.
As written by Steven Knight, it seems so taken with Wilberforce's moral magnificence, it forgets to involve the audience, too.
That rare bird: a tear-Amazing Grace isn't quite an accurate title for this entertaining history lesson, but no one will ever write a song titled 'Amazing 20-Michael Apted�s Amazing Grace, from a screenplay by Steven Knight, turns out to be blessed with inspirational nobility and comic eccentricity to bring it to emotional fruition.
The rhythms [director Michael Apted and editor Rick Shaine] establish are jumpy and unsteady, afraid of allowing a scene to breathe and flow naturally. If the script were more alive, these matters of visual technique would matter less. But not much less.
Like Steven Spielberg's glossy Amistad before it, Amazing Grace shies away from the texture and complexity of color, scurrying instead for the safer platitudes of black and white -
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