Amazing Grace follows Wilberforce’s career through his 20’s and 30’s, 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.
Boasting a terrific ensemble cast, Amazing Grace 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 (Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban) is Lord Fox, an MP that is convinced by Wilberforce to join the fight against the slave trade. Rufus Sewell (Legend of Zorro) 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.
“You may choose to look the other way but you can never again say you did not know.” William Wilberforce, 1789
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