{"id":17036,"date":"2007-04-01T08:00:42","date_gmt":"2007-04-01T15:00:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/?p=17036"},"modified":"2014-04-07T12:13:33","modified_gmt":"2014-04-07T19:13:33","slug":"review-amazing-grace-dir-michael-apted-2006","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2007\/04\/review-amazing-grace-dir-michael-apted-2006.html","title":{"rendered":"Review: Amazing Grace<\/i> (dir. Michael Apted, 2006)"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

\"\"<\/a>\u2018AMAZING GRACE,\u2019 the song, is a beloved gospel classic; but once in a while, someone complains that it isn\u2019t Christian enough \u2014 at least not in that first, famous verse.<\/p>\n

Words like \u2018grace\u2019 are too vague, and phrases like \u201cI once was blind, but now I see\u201d could refer to just about any spiritual experience \u2014 or so the argument goes.<\/p>\n

Amazing Grace<\/a><\/i>, the film, has provoked a similar debate. Evangelicals have welcomed the film with open arms \u2014 partly because it shines a light on William Wilberforce, the Christian politician who brought an end to slavery in the British Empire in the early 1800s, but also because it is made with production values much higher than those of the typical Christian movie. In short, it feels like, and is, a \u2018real movie.\u2019<\/p>\n

But some observers have noted that the film seems to marginalize the role faith played in Wilberforce\u2019s life and work. Reportedly, the film\u2019s producers \u2014 including Bristol Bay Productions, which is owned by Christian billionaire Philip Anschutz \u2014 originally wanted the film to focus on Wilberforce\u2019s faith. But director Michael Apted (49 Up<\/a><\/i>, The World Is Not Enough<\/a><\/i>) and screenwriter Steven Knight (Dirty Pretty Things<\/i>) said they wanted to focus on the power of positive politics, instead.<\/p>\n

And so Amazing Grace<\/i> turns William Wilberforce (Fantastic Four<\/i>\u2019s Ioan Gruffudd) into a fairly simple hero for a modern secular age. The content of his faith remains essentially private: we hear about his conversion after the fact, but we never get a sense of why he converted in the first place. His friend John Newton (Albert Finney), the former slave trader who wrote the titular hymn, is likewise portrayed in terms that emphasize his personal spirituality: his life, he says, is one of \u201csolitude.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wilberforce does hook up eventually with the Clapham Sect, a group of evangelicals who want to abolish slavery, and the film is very effective in showing how they sought to open the eyes of their fellow Britons to the travesties of the slave trade.<\/p>\n

However, the film gives virtually no time at all to Wilberforce\u2019s other main objective, \u2018the Reformation of Manners.\u2019 Other characters casually mention that Wilberforce has given up personal habits like gambling, and you get the sense that he doesn\u2019t care for comic operas, but the film never lets on that he acted against such things on a social scale. The film also avoids mentioning other deeds of his that might not be palatable to a modern liberal audience, such as the banning of trade unions.<\/p>\n

Amazing Grace<\/i> is a valuable film inasmuch as it draws our attention to a crucial part of our history. The irony is, Wilberforce set out to change the consensus of his age, and succeeded spectacularly after many years, but the film about him has been carefully designed to avoid upsetting the commonly held opinions of our own times.<\/p>\n

\u2014 A version of this review was first published in <\/i>BC Christian News.<\/i><\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u2018AMAZING GRACE,\u2019 the song, is a beloved gospel classic; but once in a while, someone complains that it isn\u2019t Christian enough \u2014 at least not in that first, famous verse. Words like \u2018grace\u2019 are too vague, and phrases like \u201cI once was blind, but now I see\u201d could refer to just about any spiritual experience […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1116,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[107],"tags":[2086,2094,2091,2092,2093],"class_list":["post-17036","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bcchristiannews","tag-amazing-grace-2006","tag-john-newton","tag-michael-apted","tag-steven-knight","tag-william-wilberforce"],"yoast_head":"\nReview: Amazing Grace (dir. Michael Apted, 2006)<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"'AMAZING GRACE,' the song, is a beloved gospel classic; but once in a while, someone complains that it isn't Christian enough -- at least not in that\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2007\/04\/review-amazing-grace-dir-michael-apted-2006.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Review: Amazing Grace (dir. Michael Apted, 2006)\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"'AMAZING GRACE,' the song, is a beloved gospel classic; but once in a while, someone complains that it isn't Christian enough -- at least not in that\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2007\/04\/review-amazing-grace-dir-michael-apted-2006.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"FilmChat\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2007-04-01T15:00:42+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2014-04-07T19:13:33+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/files\/2014\/04\/amazinggrace-300x158.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Peter T. Chattaway\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Peter T. Chattaway\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2007\/04\/review-amazing-grace-dir-michael-apted-2006.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2007\/04\/review-amazing-grace-dir-michael-apted-2006.html\",\"name\":\"Review: Amazing Grace (dir. Michael Apted, 2006)\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2007-04-01T15:00:42+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2014-04-07T19:13:33+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/#\/schema\/person\/5759ddf28b81af08b29eb15b4e071fde\"},\"description\":\"'AMAZING GRACE,' the song, is a beloved gospel classic; but once in a while, someone complains that it isn't Christian enough -- at least not in that\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2007\/04\/review-amazing-grace-dir-michael-apted-2006.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2007\/04\/review-amazing-grace-dir-michael-apted-2006.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2007\/04\/review-amazing-grace-dir-michael-apted-2006.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Review: Amazing Grace (dir. Michael Apted, 2006)\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/\",\"name\":\"FilmChat\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/#\/schema\/person\/5759ddf28b81af08b29eb15b4e071fde\",\"name\":\"Peter T. Chattaway\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9c4b809df092b410d749a6995bcf4f3e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9c4b809df092b410d749a6995bcf4f3e?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Peter T. Chattaway\"},\"description\":\"Peter T. Chattaway was the regular film critic for BC Christian News from 1992 to 2011. In addition to his award-winning film column for that paper, his news and opinion pieces have appeared in such publications as Books & Culture, Christianity Today, Bible Review and the Vancouver Sun. He has also contributed essays to the books Re-Viewing The Passion: Mel Gibson\u2019s Film and Its Critics (Palgrave Macmillan, 2004), Scandalizing Jesus?: Kazantzakis\u2019s The Last Temptation of Christ Fifty Years on (Continuum, 2005) and The Bible in Motion: A Handbook of the Bible and Its Reception in Film (De Gruyter, 2016).\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/author\/peterchattaway\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Review: Amazing Grace (dir. Michael Apted, 2006)","description":"'AMAZING GRACE,' the song, is a beloved gospel classic; but once in a while, someone complains that it isn't Christian enough -- at least not in that","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2007\/04\/review-amazing-grace-dir-michael-apted-2006.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Review: Amazing Grace (dir. Michael Apted, 2006)","og_description":"'AMAZING GRACE,' the song, is a beloved gospel classic; but once in a while, someone complains that it isn't Christian enough -- at least not in that","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2007\/04\/review-amazing-grace-dir-michael-apted-2006.html","og_site_name":"FilmChat","article_published_time":"2007-04-01T15:00:42+00:00","article_modified_time":"2014-04-07T19:13:33+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/wp.patheos.com.s3.amazonaws.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/files\/2014\/04\/amazinggrace-300x158.jpg"}],"author":"Peter T. Chattaway","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Peter T. Chattaway","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2007\/04\/review-amazing-grace-dir-michael-apted-2006.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2007\/04\/review-amazing-grace-dir-michael-apted-2006.html","name":"Review: Amazing Grace (dir. Michael Apted, 2006)","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/#website"},"datePublished":"2007-04-01T15:00:42+00:00","dateModified":"2014-04-07T19:13:33+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/#\/schema\/person\/5759ddf28b81af08b29eb15b4e071fde"},"description":"'AMAZING GRACE,' the song, is a beloved gospel classic; but once in a while, someone complains that it isn't Christian enough -- at least not in that","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2007\/04\/review-amazing-grace-dir-michael-apted-2006.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2007\/04\/review-amazing-grace-dir-michael-apted-2006.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/2007\/04\/review-amazing-grace-dir-michael-apted-2006.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Review: Amazing Grace (dir. Michael Apted, 2006)"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/","name":"FilmChat","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/#\/schema\/person\/5759ddf28b81af08b29eb15b4e071fde","name":"Peter T. Chattaway","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9c4b809df092b410d749a6995bcf4f3e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/9c4b809df092b410d749a6995bcf4f3e?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Peter T. Chattaway"},"description":"Peter T. Chattaway was the regular film critic for BC Christian News from 1992 to 2011. In addition to his award-winning film column for that paper, his news and opinion pieces have appeared in such publications as Books & Culture, Christianity Today, Bible Review and the Vancouver Sun. He has also contributed essays to the books Re-Viewing The Passion: Mel Gibson\u2019s Film and Its Critics (Palgrave Macmillan, 2004), Scandalizing Jesus?: Kazantzakis\u2019s The Last Temptation of Christ Fifty Years on (Continuum, 2005) and The Bible in Motion: A Handbook of the Bible and Its Reception in Film (De Gruyter, 2016).","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/author\/peterchattaway"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17036","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1116"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17036"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17036\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/filmchat\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}