Steven E. Webster
02-26-2007, 12:19 AM
Friends,
I got out today after our local blizzard and went to see the movie "Amazing Grace" (see http://www.amazinggracemovie.com/) about William Wilberforce's work on the abolition of the British slave trade in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
It was an o.k. movie in my opinion. Wilberforce was an "Evangelical." I put that in quotes, because I believe the Evangelicals of that age are alot different from the Fundamentalists who call themselves "Evangelical" now-a-days. Supposedly this film is being promoted by and among present day political "Evangelicals" (Sam Brownback referred to it in a recent speech)--but I don't believe we should allow the Christian Right to lay exclusive claim to Wilberforce's memory.
The movie pointed to the long friendship of Wilberforce and Prime Minister William Pitt--in fact, the friendship between the two young men comes across as rather romantic to this gay viewer (I loved the scene where they run together barefoot through the grass!). Towards the end of the movie Wilberforce is at Pitt's death bed holding his hand, and Pitt confesses his fear of death and says he wishes he had Wilberforce's faith--interesting thing is that Wilberforce does not pounce on him to get a death-bed conversion, but simply continues to hold his friend's hand--not at all like our modern Fundamentalist "Evangelicals."
The other striking thing about the movie is the role played by more radical persons, especially Thomas Clarkson--a man who played as important or more important a role in abolition as the politically connected Wilberforce. Clarkson is depicted as a radical sympathizer with the American and French Revolutions as movements of human liberation. For a time there is a conservative reaction against these revolutions in England and it deals a serious set back to the abolition movement. (One of the characters wisely points out that they need patience to wait for the reactionary public mood to pass.)
The other important aspect of this movie is the lesson it teaches about how a movement like abolition (or in our case, equality for LGBT persons) can be the work of a lifetime.
Anyone else see this movie? What do you think? I'm very interested in history, and in the history of abolitionism as a religious movement--anyone have opinions about the historical accuracy of the movie?
What does the history of abolition have to teach us in our movement for freedom?
I think the attempt to tie the hymn "Amazing Grace" and John Newton (the author of the hymn) into the story may be a little over done, but there may be some historical justification for it. The famous tune we sing the words of "Amazing Grace" to was probably not the tune that Wilberforce might have known. I guess, though, that there was some actual connection between Newton and Wilberforce. The movie also seems to make it clear that Newton did not become an abolitionist as soon as he converted to Evangelical Christianity and wrote "Amazing Grace," but became more conscious of the wickedness of the slave trade in his later years. In the movie the aged Newton is blind and is dictating his own testimony against the slave trade and says "now I really can see"--how ironic and touching!
As a Methodist I was disappointed that there was no mention of John Wesley's connection to the abolition movement, but Wesley's life (1703-1791) was coming to an end when Wilberforce (1759-1833) and Thomas Clarkson (1760-1846) were beginning their long struggle---it underscores for me that movements like abolition actually required more than one life time to accomplish.
Steven Webster
I got out today after our local blizzard and went to see the movie "Amazing Grace" (see http://www.amazinggracemovie.com/) about William Wilberforce's work on the abolition of the British slave trade in the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
It was an o.k. movie in my opinion. Wilberforce was an "Evangelical." I put that in quotes, because I believe the Evangelicals of that age are alot different from the Fundamentalists who call themselves "Evangelical" now-a-days. Supposedly this film is being promoted by and among present day political "Evangelicals" (Sam Brownback referred to it in a recent speech)--but I don't believe we should allow the Christian Right to lay exclusive claim to Wilberforce's memory.
The movie pointed to the long friendship of Wilberforce and Prime Minister William Pitt--in fact, the friendship between the two young men comes across as rather romantic to this gay viewer (I loved the scene where they run together barefoot through the grass!). Towards the end of the movie Wilberforce is at Pitt's death bed holding his hand, and Pitt confesses his fear of death and says he wishes he had Wilberforce's faith--interesting thing is that Wilberforce does not pounce on him to get a death-bed conversion, but simply continues to hold his friend's hand--not at all like our modern Fundamentalist "Evangelicals."
The other striking thing about the movie is the role played by more radical persons, especially Thomas Clarkson--a man who played as important or more important a role in abolition as the politically connected Wilberforce. Clarkson is depicted as a radical sympathizer with the American and French Revolutions as movements of human liberation. For a time there is a conservative reaction against these revolutions in England and it deals a serious set back to the abolition movement. (One of the characters wisely points out that they need patience to wait for the reactionary public mood to pass.)
The other important aspect of this movie is the lesson it teaches about how a movement like abolition (or in our case, equality for LGBT persons) can be the work of a lifetime.
Anyone else see this movie? What do you think? I'm very interested in history, and in the history of abolitionism as a religious movement--anyone have opinions about the historical accuracy of the movie?
What does the history of abolition have to teach us in our movement for freedom?
I think the attempt to tie the hymn "Amazing Grace" and John Newton (the author of the hymn) into the story may be a little over done, but there may be some historical justification for it. The famous tune we sing the words of "Amazing Grace" to was probably not the tune that Wilberforce might have known. I guess, though, that there was some actual connection between Newton and Wilberforce. The movie also seems to make it clear that Newton did not become an abolitionist as soon as he converted to Evangelical Christianity and wrote "Amazing Grace," but became more conscious of the wickedness of the slave trade in his later years. In the movie the aged Newton is blind and is dictating his own testimony against the slave trade and says "now I really can see"--how ironic and touching!
As a Methodist I was disappointed that there was no mention of John Wesley's connection to the abolition movement, but Wesley's life (1703-1791) was coming to an end when Wilberforce (1759-1833) and Thomas Clarkson (1760-1846) were beginning their long struggle---it underscores for me that movements like abolition actually required more than one life time to accomplish.
Steven Webster