This entry was posted on Monday, April 9th, 2007 at 4:00 pm and is filed under A, Drama, True Stories. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.
Starring: Ioan Gruffudd, Stephen Campbell Moore, Benedict Cumberbatch,
Michael Gambon, Albert Finney, Romoloa Garai.
Director: Michael Apted
This is a true story period piece about William Wilburforce, an 18th to 19th century member of British Parliament who fought relentlessly to have slavery revoked. This is an important story and may start showing in classrooms. Apted does a good job to keep the movie going at a steady pace, knowing that his subject matter is pretty dry. I enjoyed this movie, but as a history buff, its hard for me to judge whether others, without my unexplainable interest in all things boring, will share this opinion
The story starts with a dejected Wilburforce leaving London after another unsuccessful attempt to get Parliament to abolish slavery over the objections of the wealthy, pro-slavery lobby. He suffers from colitis and developed an opium addiction (not uncommon at the time) to help him to deal with the horrible disease. He meets a woman who has admired him for years and from her, he manages to gather the strength to try one more time. History helps art here, because Wilburforce and his followers did find a particularly clever way to attack the institution of slavery, leading to a very effective ending.
I enjoyed this, but it is not be for all tastes. Look for great performances throughout, particularly by veterans Gambon and Finney. Still, action fans will be bored. Comedy fans will find little to giggle at. Horror fans will only be horrified to hear how slaves were shipped and treated, though this is not illustrated as it could have been (and should have been in my opinion). This is a drama and a good one.
