Amazing Grace: You'll want to see this one

I admit it. Steph and I are very difficult to please when it comes to films. We're not indiscriminate movie-goers, preferring art films, period pieces, and the occasional "chick flick". So it was with great anticipation and some intrepidation, that we rented the box-office sleeper, "Amazing Grace", a historically based film about the life and work of British abolitionist, William Wilberforce, friend of the ex-slave-trader-turned-clergyman, John Newton, who penned the hymn after which the film is titled.

Don't let the title of this film put you off, as it almost did us. It isn't about John Newton, his conversion experience, or even the hymn, (which Newton penned after his conversion experience following a violent storm through which he piloted one of his slave ships and lived to tell about it). It's about the people who were dedicated to the abolition of the slave trade in Great Britain during the late 18th century and early 19th century, most notably Wilberforce, and the struggles they encountered in trying to wake the British arostocracy out of their complacency regarding the evils, suffering, and immorality of the slave trade. Besides the fact that it's story is based on incredible historical events and people, the film features beautiful, historically accurate costuming, gorgeous cinematography, a compelling screenplay, and impeccable acting.

It's a film well-worth seeing, and in our case, one we have decided to purchase and add to our library of period films.