The past three years I've always kind of had trouble finding a theme base for April. I mean sure April's usually is Easter month, with the ascension of Jesus. But then it kind of took me a while moreover realized what it really should me a feel good or underdog story, when it comes to films. And this movie that my parents had saved a while back kind of in a strange sense reminded me that April really does need to be that theme presence. Amazing Grace is a small period piece released in 2006, when films like The Departed, Casino Royale and The Prestige where ruling the box office, damn that just brings back great memories when Hollywood wasn't releasing the same superhero movie all over again or Disney remaking classic animated movies into live action ones, hell now I want to travel back in time and prevent the disaster of Disney making movies suck. Okay, moving on the film itself is based on the song of Amazing Grace furthermore based on the abolishment of the Slave Trade during the 18th century British Empire.
In 18th century England, House of Commons member William Wilberforce (Ioan Gruffudd) and his close friend and future prime minister, William Pitt (Benedict Cumberbatch), begin a lengthy battle to abolish Great Britain's slave trade. Though Wilberforce's legislation is soundly defeated in 1791, his growing affection for Barbara Spooner (Romola Garai) inspires him to take up the fight once more.
For a movie that has a great list of A-list powerhouse actors along with an up-and-coming actor Benedict Cumberbatch, I'm still kind of flabbergast that no one has been giving this movie a lot of attention nor praise that it deserves. I mean granted this was a movie that was pushed a side to like the spring or fall months and I probably understand that this movie wasn't going to grab huge bank at the box office but come on, this is a movie about one man being the biggest underdog taking down the slave trade of the British Empire the absolute worst crime ever committed since the south captured Slaves during the Civil War era, and not to compare because granted the both the worst things ever caused by humanity in the 18th and 19th century, but deep down the slave trade is probably in the top five worst things cause by humanity, though in all fairness I could be wrong and I never claim to be right. Though what really makes this film great is that it has a compelling story of one man fighting for the injustice of the world feeling like he hasn't done enough moreover can't continue the fight anymore but then gets a huge spring of hope from the unlikeliest of people and continues to fight till the very end. And that's what actor Ioan Gruffudd who a lot of people don't know is Mr. Fantastic from the first two Fantastic Four movies where they'd do anything for Jessica Alba to take off her clothes. And this movie was made after the first Fantastic Four film and he came out with this movie for which he does exceptionally well moreover does such great job playing a underdog politician who goes down in history as man who abolishes the slave trade at the cause of his own health, and to be honest after seeing the film his character really should be a great example to all up and coming politician students who want to get into politics. The other thing in what makes the film great to watch is the acting a side from Mr. Fantastic's performance, the movie itself has a great list of actors in the supporting realm as well, with actors like Albert Finney and Michael Gambon and of course Benedict Cumberbatch and even Rufus Sewell to help Gruffudd's quest, along with some great antagonist in both Ciaran Hinds and Toby Jones who are trying to make the Slave Trade stay in business, pretty much the pieces of s**t in the movie when you think about it, and the fact that we're not depending on just one star of the movie to make this film believable but they also have a great list of professional performers who've done theater before, come together and make this film believable, which to me is the coolest thing furthermore what makes this film great to watch as well. The other surprising factor that I just happen to find out while watching the movie was the fact that this was written by Steven Knight who happen to direct my favorite Tom Hardy one man band called Locke, so in all fairness when you have a guy like Steven Knight to write a period drama like Amazing Grace, you should know that this film is going to be great to see. Sadly, this film is nowhere to be found when it comes to streaming services so bottom line I can't get you all to see it, but if you want to spend money the DVD and Blu-Ray is on Amazon remarkably I'd highly recommend purchasing the movie itself, for many reasons this is one of those films that has been forgotten for nearly close to twenty years and needs to be seen by the human eye, moreover should be a good movie to watch for any students of politics or young lawyers who want to change the world, and William Wilberforce is a great example of no matter how much you try you need to get back up and continue the fight.
No comments:
Post a Comment