Amazing Grace - discussion guide

 
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Summary

Amazing Grace is the story of William Wilberforce’s struggle in the British Parliament to bring an end to the slave trade in which Britain played a central role. It opens with Wilberforce (Ioan Gruffudd) being taken to the home of his cousin Henry Thornton (Nicholas Farrell) to be cared for. William’s health and his will to keep on fighting have broken after fifteen years of campaigning. Henry, a doctor, administers laudanum (opium dissolved in alcohol) to combat Williams pain, and he and his wife seem to be intent on keeping Wilberforce away from politics and getting him settled down with a wife. The story of how Wilberforce reached this point is told in long flashbacks, partly as he tells his story to the idealistic young woman, Barbara Spooner (Romola Garai), whom Henry and his wife are attempting to set William up with.

At first, Wilberforce wrestles with others’ expectations of him. He has recently been converted and contemplates leaving politics for a life of devotion to God. Others, including his good friend William Pitt (Benedict Cumberbatch), are of the opinion that he would be wasting his considerable gifts. Pitt invites a group of people to dinner at Wilberforce’s house – all anti-slavery campaigners. They include Thomas Clarkson (Rufus Sewell), Hannah More (Georgie Glen), James Stephen (Stephen Campbell Moore) – all members of the group of evangelical Christian reformers now known as the Clapham Sect – and Oloudah Equiano (Youssou N'Dour), a former slave. Once Equiano has opened his shirt to show his branding mark and Clarkson has deposited a set of iron manacles on Wilberforce’s polished dining table, he has plenty to think about. ‘Mr Wilberforce, we understand you are having problems deciding whether to do the work of God or the work of a political activist,’ says Clarkson. ‘We humbly suggest you can do both,’ adds Hannah More. As a result, Wilberforce throws himself into leading the parliamentary campaign, gaining some formidable enemies in the process, not least the Duke of Clarence (Toby Jones) and Lord Tarleton (Ciarán Hinds), MP for Liverpool.

Background

William Wilberforce was a very gifted statesman, a social reformer, a philanthropist and an evangelical Christian. As well as working to bring about the end of the slave trade, and then to abolish slavery itself, he was concerned about mistreatment of animals (he was a founder member of the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals, later to become the RSPCA), education, the social impact of heavy gin drinking, and the need for missionaries in various parts of the world, including India and Africa (he was a founder of the Church Missionary Society and the British and Foreign Bible Society). Screenwriter Steven Knight’s research into Wilberforce showed him to be ‘a single-minded man who kept pursuing his goal, and plucked success from the jaws of defeat. To most people at the time the idea of abolishing the slave trade was ludicrous – like someone today suggesting that we abandon the internal combustion engine right now! At the same time he was an eccentric. He had a house full of sick animals, and could never bring himself to fire any of his staff, so that by the time he was fifty, he had a house full of old servants, most of whom did nothing. And he would come home to find his house full of people he didn’t know, sleeping there.’

Wilberforce was born in Hull in 1759, the son of a wealthy merchant. He studied at Cambridge University from 1776 where he became good friends with William Pitt, later to become Prime Minister. He became a Member of Parliament for Kingston-upon-Hull in 1780, and then for Yorkshire in 1784. Wilberforce became an evangelical Christian and a leading member of the Clapham Sect, a prominent group of Christian reformers. Influenced by other members of the group, particularly the abolitionist clergyman Thomas Clarkson, he campaigned for eighteen years until the Slave Trade Act was passed on25 March 1807. Director Michael Apted says, ‘He had a very strong moral drive, based on his religious beliefs, but Wilberforce moved in the real world and could form alliances with people he didn’t totally approve of, in order to get closer to his goal. He proved that although he was driven by a divine purpose to rid the world of this iniquitous slave trade, to execute this mission he needed to be strong, worldly, smart and political. A combination of Christian visionary and skilled politician, his overwhelming tenacity eventually let him reach his goal.’

While few people these days know much about the members and work of the Clapham Sect, even less are aware of Oloudah Equiano (played by Youssou N’Dour, a Grammy Award-winning singer from Senegal). Equiano was a Nigerian slave who managed to buy his freedom and get to London where he campaigned against slavery and wrote a best-selling book about his experiences. Apted comments, ‘The role of Equiano is crucial and complicated in the film. Youssou had that pure presence; he brings a richness and dignity to his scenes.’

For more information see:

www.amazinggracethemovie.co.uk

www.wilberforcecentral.org

www.stopthetraffik.org

Questions for discussion

1. How did you respond to Amazing Grace as a film? Which performances particularly stood out for you?

2. What emotional journey did the film take you on? How much of the story were you aware of beforehand, and did this affect the way you engaged with the film?

3. Why do you think much of the story is told in extended flashbacks? How well do you think this device works in this case?

4. How would you describe Wilberforce’s character as portrayed by Ioan Gruffudd? How does he change during the years covered by Amazing Grace?

5. Why is Barbara so effective at re-inspiring William Wilberforce to continue with the struggle?

6. What impact do Wilberforce’s friends have on him? What impact does he have on them?

7. In what ways is Wilberforce an inspiration for you?

8. Were you surprised by Wilberforce’s addiction to laudanum? How did this affect the way you viewed him?

9. How does Amazing Grace demonstrate the truth of the biblical understanding of human beings: that being made in God’s image we are capable of extraordinary good, but being rebels against God we are also capable of extraordinary evil?

10. ‘[Thomas Clarkson] had so much energy, devoted to the power of good, but, like many people working for the good of humanity, proved not to be that able at individual relationships. . . . He was a religious man, but hung out with the wrong types, because they would give him proof of the iniquities of the trade. 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.’ (Rufus Sewell)

'Thomas Clarkson, though he was a passionate man, was also a very pious and serious individual. He was almost a Quaker’ and stayed with Quakers when travelling around the country. . . . Rufus Sewell’s portrayal of Clarkson in the film is seriously misguided.' (Maureen James, The Clarksons Society)

How do you feel about Clarkson's character being misrepresented in the film? To what extent does it matter whether he was 'very pious' or 'not necessarily all totally clean-cut and wholesome'?

11. Director Michael Apted says, ‘I wasn’t interested in making a dull biopic. This is a great period in British politics. I wanted to make a film that showed how heroic and relevant politics can be.’ To what extent do you think he succeeded? What impact did the political debates in the film have on you?

12. Do you think Pitt was right to keep out of the abolitionist campaign once he had introduced the Clapham group to Wilberforce? Whose fault was it that their friendship was somewhat soured once the war against France had started?

13. ‘I’d like the film to show that standing up for your rights takes courage and will reap rewards in the long run.’ (Ioan Gruffudd)

Do you think this is what Amazing Grace does show? Do you agree with Gruffudd? Why/why not?

14. How do you feel about the facts presented in the film, in particular that an estimated eleven million slaves were transported to the New World, chained up in appallingly cramped, filthy and unhealthy conditions? What is your view of those like Lord Tarleton who were only concerned about the economic benefits of slavery? In what ways do you think our country, and even ourselves as individuals, are still guilty of putting economics ahead of justice?

15. ‘I hope we open people’s eyes to an interesting story that not many people will know about, and that, while being entertained, they learn something about the human condition: that principles exist in the world, and that things can be changed.’ (Michael Apted)

Has watching Amazing Grace changed you in any ways? If so, how? Has it motivated you to get involved in the Stop the Traffick or other campaigns to deal with human trafficking and slavery?

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