Maybe we can rally some troops and go Saturday? Jake and I wanna see it. Wait, have you already seen it?

I got to catch the movie on Friday night with a group of friends. It was amazing...and gracious.

No, in all seriousness, I enjoyed it very much. It seemed to work on a number of different levels. Indeed, the plight of the slaves in the slave trade could have been drawn out more graphically, but that would have made it a different sort of movie. What it was good at was showing how Wilberforce and others brought the topic up effectively in very proper and stifling settings in which people were not accustomed to being questioned.

It was also intriguing to see how the topic of slavery, much as the topic of sexual slavery and worker justice, etc. are today, was inextricably linked to a global economy, and, consequently, just how much effort must be exerted to overcome the simple inertia against change, not to mention challenge the wickedness in human hearts that benefits from and wants to keep the status quo. It was intriguing to see, if the movie is accurate, how contemporary techniques such as boycotting and publicity stunts played a part in the struggle.

Finally, the movie was also beautiful, in many of its depictions of nature and of a gentle love story, even if it was rather a simple and idealistic story, perhaps because it was such. Romolo Garai is pretty easy on the eyes, I must say, and her character in the movie was very winsome.

I appreciated the the religious and justice oriented parts of the movie, but the part of the movie which moved me the most, though, was Wilberforce's friendship with the Prime Minister William Pitt. It was good to see a male friendship centered not tomcatting together or inaneness, but rather on a sense of mission and shared interests. The scenes of them running in a garden and losing and restablishing their friendship and finally saying goodbye, were authentic and moving.

Oh, and there is some fine acting in this movie. Here is the review of a reviewer I like.

I agree the film was very well cast. Wilberforce and Olaudah could have both sentimentalized their roles, but brilliantly avoided doing so. Even the minor characters had impeccable timing and poise. I’m specifically thinking the scene where Wilberforce was choosing between being a political activist and working for God; after a tense pause one of the less prominent abolitionists offers a gentle yet firm “We humbly suggest that you can do both”. Perfect.
P.S. When Albert Finney/Newton said, “I’m a great sinner and Christ is a great savior” I along with the couple behind me breathed barely audible amens. That made me thankful.