Focusing on a force for good

IOAN Gruffudd stars in Amazing Grace, a moving historical epic about the life of William Wilberforce, who led the campaign to abolish the slave trade 200 years ago.

Wilberforce was 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.

A good friend of England's youngest Prime Minister, William Pitt the Younger (Benedict Cumberbatch), Wilberforce is elected to the House of Commons at the age of 21, and entrusted by Pitt with the cause for the Abolition of Slavery.

In spite of his political prowess, Wilberforce finds himself torn between his successful rising career and his desire to give it all up for a life of spirituality. He seeks the advice of friend and mentor John Newton (Albert Finney), a former slave trader who turned to the Church to atone for his earlier life, who suggests that the best way for Wilberforce to serve God would be to fight injustice with his political influence.

Inspired by Newton, Wilberforce quickly becomes the rallying voice in parliament for a fragmented group of like-minded people to fight the cause and make the people of Britain, and ultimately the world, acknowledge the horror of the Slave Trade.

Amazing Grace follows Wilberforce's career through his 20s and 30s, as he and his fellow humanitarians make the issue of slavery a talking point, not only in political circles, but also throughout the country. They wage the first modern political campaign, using petitions, boycotts, mass meetings and even badges with slogans to take their message to the country at large.

The film 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 convinced by Wilberforce to join the fight against the slave trade. Rufus Sewell plays Thomas Clarkson, one of Wilberforce's allies in the anti-slavery 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.

"William Wilberforce and William Pitt were both very young men, under 30, when they took on the British establishment to bring about the abolition of the slave trade," says director Michael Apted.

"This is a great moment in British history, and I wanted to portray it as a generational battle - the young men taking on the older generation - like Kennedys and their Camelot court were to America in the early sixties."

Gruffudd says he did a lot of background reading to immerse himself in the period. "I found William Wilberforce to be a likeable man, constantly conflicted between his faith and his work in Parliament, but at his core he was a humanitarian, filled with compassion and courage. At only 5ft 4ins, he had a towering presence and an incredible voice."

Benedict Cumberbatch, in the role of William Pitt the Younger, is a relative newcomer to film, and relished the role of Britain's youngest ever Prime Minister. "It is initially daunting to take on the role of someone with such iconic statute in British history. In the film Pitt starts out as Prime Minister, in his twenties and we follow his relationship with Wilberforce to his deathbed, so I wanted to understand the whole stretch of the man's life."

Rufus Sewell, who takes the role of Thomas Clarkson, believes the story has relevance for today's cinema audience: "People who do good are not necessarily all totally clean-cut and wholesome. The Abolitionists were a very mixed bunch of individuals. There is good and bad in everyone, so it's worth appealing to the good in people. This is a film about real human beings doing something good."