How Sweet the Film
In honor of Valentine's Day, I've got a triple feature for this weekend. I recently got the opportunity to see two movies that had roles for two of my actor crushes (one per movie), and it seemed appropriate to post them around Valentine's Day. But that also made me feel like I should do a review on Valentine's Day itself, and have it be one featuring my biggest actor crush. So with that in mind...Amazing Grace.
I very much enjoyed Amazing Grace when I first watched it during its initial release, though that was entirely due to personal reasons that will become abundantly clear shortly. I haven’t seen the movie since then, and I wasn’t sure how it would hold up now that I generally look at movies with a more critical eye. And while I’m still biased, I think the answer is “fairly well”.
The movie is a combination of a biography and a look at a historical event. Specifically, it’s about William Wilberforce (Ioan Gruffudd) and his long quest to end the slave trade in Britain. The story opens in 1797, when a beaten down Wilberforce is contemplating giving up, before being coaxed into talking out his frustrations by Barbara Spooner (Romola Garai), a young woman that Wilberforce’s friends are blatantly trying to set him up with. The bulk of the movie then is taken up with flashbacks, as we watch Wilberforce become aware of the brutality of the slave trade and campaign to stop it with a combination of youthful idealism and religious fervor. He faces a fair bit of opposition from Parliament, particularly given some of the other circumstances of the time (this was during the era of the various revolutions), but he persisted and gained small grounds, though it took a toll on his health and eventually began to wear on him, leading to the situation at the beginning of the movie. When the flashbacks end, Wilberforce is newly invigorated and makes another go at it, this time with the support of Barbara. And if it sounds like I’m being a bit vague about details, well, we’ll get to that.
First things first; despite a decade having passed, I was never going to be entirely objective about this movie. Ioan’s been a long-standing crush of mine, and I love the aesthetics of the 1700’s (in large part because of Ioan’s role in the Horatio Hornblower miniseries). Combining the two therefore was guaranteed to make me happy and more inclined to forgive the movie’s faults. It helps that Ioan gives a very appealing performance as Wilberforce, his youthful self coming across as very likeable, sincere, and overall endearing, while his older self is more vulnerable and brooding by turns, which is something that hits me right in the id. I spent a large portion of this rewatch just smiling at the pleasure of watching him, made all the stronger because I haven’t seen Ioan in anything new (or new to me) in a little over a year. So while I do enjoy the movie, it has to be admitted that there are extenuating circumstances.
That being said, my critical mind was engaged enough to admit that the movie as a story isn’t very strong. While there are a few intertitles to tell us when the first section is set and that the first flashback is from fifteen years previously, it basically stops doing that and leaves us to watch the story unfold. The problem is, it glosses over things and makes it hard to tell just how much time has passed. It can look like most of the events in the flashback took place over just a few months rather than fifteen years; other than the changes in hairstyles, nobody really ages (though Wilberforce looks more gaunt and drawn in the “modern” segments), and the fashions, particularly for the men, don’t change too much. Our only cues that time is passing is when characters outright say so, or when the flashback starts by discussing the American Revolution and then later, Wilberforce’s campaign gets derailed by the impending French Revolution (meaning about a decade has passed). Furthermore, there’s not a lot of focus on the political aspect of trying to pass a law to abolish the slave trade, or the political front altogether. William Pitt (an early role for Benedict Cumberbatch before he got typecast as an arrogant genius) announces his intention to Wilberforce to become Prime Minister, and then he just becomes Prime Minister offscreen, with not even a scene featuring a celebration of him getting the position. So if you were hoping for a retelling of historical events, or some political wheelings and dealings, you’re mostly going to be disappointed.
I think the word I’d use to describe the movie overall is “pleasant” which is both a benefit and a drawback. On the negative side, the fact that it seems more focused on Wilberforce’s feelings rather than his life or his cause can make it feel like it’s both distracting from the point and making the man look more positive than he probably was in real life. Indeed, he doesn’t seem to have many flaws other than getting too invested in the cause, damaging his health and not caring too much about what else is going on in the world. They may be flaws, but they’re not ones that make us too inclined to dislike him, nor is he too punished for them. On the positive side, the movie has a very warm, cozy feeling, with beautiful nature shots and amusing banter that makes you like most of the characters. If it was a pure work of fiction, you’d get the sense pretty quickly that the good guys would triumph, especially since the bad guys never come across as truly nasty. It’s a comfort food movie, enjoyable but not necessarily substantive, for better or for worse.
I think the thing that highlights the double-edged sword of the pleasant tone the most is the portrayal of the two messages in the movie. Those messages are that slavery is/was bad and that religion can be a great, positive influence on people. In the wrong hands, this would feel manipulative and preachy. But while the religious angle gets several scenes and conversations dedicated to it, it never really comes to the forefront, so you don’t feel like this is a sermon in disguise. That’ll appeal to some, but may feel like either a disappointment or a different type of manipulation to others. The slavery angle is similar; we get plenty of scenes, especially in the early going, talking at length about how bad slavery could be in those days, but while it’s treated seriously, you also don’t feel as horrified about it as the movie was probably hoping you’d be because it gets interspersed with some of the nicer material. So it doesn’t feel like a message movie, but at the same time, the message is kind of getting lost.
Even so, the non-Ioan positives outweigh the negatives for me. All of the actors are good in their roles, the costumes and sets are nice, and there is one moment of political gamesmanship that’s pretty good and suggests the movie could have worked as a more serious piece if the writer and crew had chosen to go there. While the movie seems like classic Oscarbait, it doesn’t quite have the feel I generally associate with that “genre”, which I think is to its credit. Though given that it never seemed to put itself forward for Oscar consideration, perhaps it was never angling for that.
While I have to ultimately confess there’s not a lot of substance to this movie, I also think it’s worth seeing. Period piece fans like me can enjoy the visuals if nothing else, and the gentleness and overall positiveness feels refreshing compared to a lot of movies (modern and older) that I’ve seen recently. I don’t know how many movies like that get made nowadays, but I think we need a few more of them. And I definitely wouldn’t say no if Ioan got involved.
CAT ALERT, sort of: During a hectic day at Wilberforce’s house to show some of his eccentric tendencies, you can hear the sound of cats, though they sound like typical stock sound effects to me. Sadly, none make an actual appearance, though you’ll see plenty of dogs and horses, and a few surprise animals like a hare. Ah well, you can’t get everything you want.
I very much enjoyed Amazing Grace when I first watched it during its initial release, though that was entirely due to personal reasons that will become abundantly clear shortly. I haven’t seen the movie since then, and I wasn’t sure how it would hold up now that I generally look at movies with a more critical eye. And while I’m still biased, I think the answer is “fairly well”.
The movie is a combination of a biography and a look at a historical event. Specifically, it’s about William Wilberforce (Ioan Gruffudd) and his long quest to end the slave trade in Britain. The story opens in 1797, when a beaten down Wilberforce is contemplating giving up, before being coaxed into talking out his frustrations by Barbara Spooner (Romola Garai), a young woman that Wilberforce’s friends are blatantly trying to set him up with. The bulk of the movie then is taken up with flashbacks, as we watch Wilberforce become aware of the brutality of the slave trade and campaign to stop it with a combination of youthful idealism and religious fervor. He faces a fair bit of opposition from Parliament, particularly given some of the other circumstances of the time (this was during the era of the various revolutions), but he persisted and gained small grounds, though it took a toll on his health and eventually began to wear on him, leading to the situation at the beginning of the movie. When the flashbacks end, Wilberforce is newly invigorated and makes another go at it, this time with the support of Barbara. And if it sounds like I’m being a bit vague about details, well, we’ll get to that.
First things first; despite a decade having passed, I was never going to be entirely objective about this movie. Ioan’s been a long-standing crush of mine, and I love the aesthetics of the 1700’s (in large part because of Ioan’s role in the Horatio Hornblower miniseries). Combining the two therefore was guaranteed to make me happy and more inclined to forgive the movie’s faults. It helps that Ioan gives a very appealing performance as Wilberforce, his youthful self coming across as very likeable, sincere, and overall endearing, while his older self is more vulnerable and brooding by turns, which is something that hits me right in the id. I spent a large portion of this rewatch just smiling at the pleasure of watching him, made all the stronger because I haven’t seen Ioan in anything new (or new to me) in a little over a year. So while I do enjoy the movie, it has to be admitted that there are extenuating circumstances.
That being said, my critical mind was engaged enough to admit that the movie as a story isn’t very strong. While there are a few intertitles to tell us when the first section is set and that the first flashback is from fifteen years previously, it basically stops doing that and leaves us to watch the story unfold. The problem is, it glosses over things and makes it hard to tell just how much time has passed. It can look like most of the events in the flashback took place over just a few months rather than fifteen years; other than the changes in hairstyles, nobody really ages (though Wilberforce looks more gaunt and drawn in the “modern” segments), and the fashions, particularly for the men, don’t change too much. Our only cues that time is passing is when characters outright say so, or when the flashback starts by discussing the American Revolution and then later, Wilberforce’s campaign gets derailed by the impending French Revolution (meaning about a decade has passed). Furthermore, there’s not a lot of focus on the political aspect of trying to pass a law to abolish the slave trade, or the political front altogether. William Pitt (an early role for Benedict Cumberbatch before he got typecast as an arrogant genius) announces his intention to Wilberforce to become Prime Minister, and then he just becomes Prime Minister offscreen, with not even a scene featuring a celebration of him getting the position. So if you were hoping for a retelling of historical events, or some political wheelings and dealings, you’re mostly going to be disappointed.
I think the word I’d use to describe the movie overall is “pleasant” which is both a benefit and a drawback. On the negative side, the fact that it seems more focused on Wilberforce’s feelings rather than his life or his cause can make it feel like it’s both distracting from the point and making the man look more positive than he probably was in real life. Indeed, he doesn’t seem to have many flaws other than getting too invested in the cause, damaging his health and not caring too much about what else is going on in the world. They may be flaws, but they’re not ones that make us too inclined to dislike him, nor is he too punished for them. On the positive side, the movie has a very warm, cozy feeling, with beautiful nature shots and amusing banter that makes you like most of the characters. If it was a pure work of fiction, you’d get the sense pretty quickly that the good guys would triumph, especially since the bad guys never come across as truly nasty. It’s a comfort food movie, enjoyable but not necessarily substantive, for better or for worse.
I think the thing that highlights the double-edged sword of the pleasant tone the most is the portrayal of the two messages in the movie. Those messages are that slavery is/was bad and that religion can be a great, positive influence on people. In the wrong hands, this would feel manipulative and preachy. But while the religious angle gets several scenes and conversations dedicated to it, it never really comes to the forefront, so you don’t feel like this is a sermon in disguise. That’ll appeal to some, but may feel like either a disappointment or a different type of manipulation to others. The slavery angle is similar; we get plenty of scenes, especially in the early going, talking at length about how bad slavery could be in those days, but while it’s treated seriously, you also don’t feel as horrified about it as the movie was probably hoping you’d be because it gets interspersed with some of the nicer material. So it doesn’t feel like a message movie, but at the same time, the message is kind of getting lost.
Even so, the non-Ioan positives outweigh the negatives for me. All of the actors are good in their roles, the costumes and sets are nice, and there is one moment of political gamesmanship that’s pretty good and suggests the movie could have worked as a more serious piece if the writer and crew had chosen to go there. While the movie seems like classic Oscarbait, it doesn’t quite have the feel I generally associate with that “genre”, which I think is to its credit. Though given that it never seemed to put itself forward for Oscar consideration, perhaps it was never angling for that.
While I have to ultimately confess there’s not a lot of substance to this movie, I also think it’s worth seeing. Period piece fans like me can enjoy the visuals if nothing else, and the gentleness and overall positiveness feels refreshing compared to a lot of movies (modern and older) that I’ve seen recently. I don’t know how many movies like that get made nowadays, but I think we need a few more of them. And I definitely wouldn’t say no if Ioan got involved.
CAT ALERT, sort of: During a hectic day at Wilberforce’s house to show some of his eccentric tendencies, you can hear the sound of cats, though they sound like typical stock sound effects to me. Sadly, none make an actual appearance, though you’ll see plenty of dogs and horses, and a few surprise animals like a hare. Ah well, you can’t get everything you want.