William Wilberforce and the story of ‘Amazing Grace’.

Sometimes a film comes up that connects with a whole bunch of people no matter what their approach to life might be - and this is one such movie.

Ioan Gruffudd takes on the role of Wilberforce with absolute integrity - his articulate passion is so brilliantly portrayed that it is almost like we are stepping into the argument ourselves.  All the supporting actors are great but the other stand out for me was Albert Finney playing the part of John Newton, a former slave trader and now a pastor, who wrote a number of well known hymns, not the least of which was ‘Amazing Grace’.  You can see clips from the film as well as comments and more information about the film at  http://www.amazinggracemovie.com/

The movie was great and stands several times of watching but the aspect of the film that really impacted on me was the singing of the song Amazing Grace by Chris Tomlin - not part of the movie but one of the additional DVD tracks.  His rendition of the orginal song coupled with ‘My chains are gone’ was nothing short of incredible.  The full lyrics are at  http://www.azlyrics.com/lyrics/christomlin/amazinggracemychainsaregone.html

This is a must see movie about a less than proud British activity and a man whose social conscience was equalled by his drive and ability to make a difference.

 Margaret