AMAZING GRACE (2006) MOVIE REACTION!
Added 2025-07-12 16:00:11 +0000 UTCWhat ever happened to Ioan Gruffudd? + The youngest Cumberbatch to ever pumpernickel.
Comments
Just watched after back from parents. I can see your point , it’s more about the political side than the graphic portrayal of the slave trade.. it may of benefited with maybe a short clip or so of what it was like.. maybe played it safe… anyway, enjoyed watching it again after so many years , along side yourself so thank you 🙏
MarkC
2025-07-13 20:48:46 +0000 UTCFun fact Peaky Blinders portrayed my nan Jessie Eden for a few episodes as Shelby's love interest..... never bloody happened lol
Craig McCulloch
2025-07-13 11:36:49 +0000 UTCReally enjoyable rewatch, having seen it once around 2010/11ish and been impressed by its condensing a complex tale into movie length with admirable accuracy; at the time I also didn't realise it was written by Steven Knight, now of Peaky Blinders fame. A few points: 3:10 - Actually not Churchill, but the Israeli diplomat Abba Eban, who wisely applied the principle to "men and nations" in general rather than Americans in particular. 4:50 - I can only claim somewhat vague Welsh ancestry on my dad's side, but I'm pretty sure it's "Ewan Griffith." Got his big break playing Horatio Hornblower on TV, which is definitely one to look into at some point after you (hopefully!) tackle Sharpe with Sean Bean first. 1:54:52 - ("Did he die early?") - Yes, Pitt died at 46, most likely of a gastric or duodenal ulcer; having suffered health problems when he was younger, a doctor's recommendation that he strengthen his constitution with three bottles of port a day presumably did his stomach no favours over the ensuing twenty-five years. And the film does take a cheeky liberty over his death, as it actually happened before the successful bill to attack "neutral" shipping in 1806; emotionally, I guess it made sense to honour Pitt's contribution to abolitionism by making him party to that first major victory. 2:00:52 - ("Powdering the wig!") - After the Duty on Hair Powder Act 1795, which required all men without an occupational exemption to pay an annual tax of a guinea (roughly £100 in today's money) if they used powder on their wig, it tended to be a practice confined to older and more conservative men, nicknamed "Guinea Pigs" by their younger radical enemies, who wore their hair naturally and cropped short. Lovely touch in the film to depict a Guinea Pig clinging to outmoded custom! 2:10:10 - ("We should have gotten to know more of the MPs and where they stood...") - The problem really is that the Parliamentary battle for slave trade abolition lasted literally twenty years, and in that time MPs came and went. The reason the film focuses on Tarleton (Ciaran Hinds) and the Duke of Clarence (Toby Jones) is because they were prominent and ever-present enemies of Wilberforce. Furthermore, a lot of MPs who were won over were initially fence-sitters rather than outright opponents, their consciences inclining them towards Wilberforce but their fear of economic disaster pushing them back to Tarleton and Clarence; if anything, it was the influence the abolitionist cause gained in the House of Lords over two decades that was more vital, as a few Anglican bishops and even the Duke of Gloucester were courted by Wilberforce. And unfortunately, to tell that story you potentially need to give the audience a crash course in why the Lords is important in relation to the Commons, etc. "Keep It Simple, Stupid!" remains a pretty solid principle in storytelling.
Ian Richards
2025-07-13 02:56:08 +0000 UTC
