Who hasn't heard the song "Amazing Grace"? Even if you've never attended a church service, you've probably heard it in some form or another. I can remember a scene in _According to Jim_ where that hymn was played on a harmonica during a funeral of sorts, and an episode of _Home Improvement_ where Jill alluded to it. Most songs have a story behind them, and "Amazing Grace" has quite the history; after seeing this, you won't hear that hymn the same way ever again! Better yet, the production values and story were better than usual for a Christian film; the performances were all outstanding, especially the lovely Romola Garai as Barbara. However, what I didn't expect was for some problematic content to be thrown into the mix. While I knew there would be disturbing descriptions of slavery, as that was a deplorable practice, I was bothered by some of the female characters' low-cut outfits, as well as several utterances of profanity, including British crudities "b----y," "b------s," "arse," and right many uses of the h-word **not** in reference to the place. Despite its problems, it was still a great movie; however, with a bit more decorum, it could have been much better.

The cut is a little bit tangled making hard to follow every hop in time.

Otherwise, script and photography are good and the cast does a good job.

Aside from a few charismatic scenes from Sir Michael Gambon as the sagely if rather devious Foreign Secretary Lord Edward Fox, the rest of this really struggles to elevate itself from the doldrums of it's rather dreary cast. It possibly doesn't help that much of the drama is set in a wet and gloomy 19th century England but Ioan Gruffudd as the pioneering abolitionist William Wilberforce comes across as weedy and lacklustre. The same can be said for Benedict Cumberbatch's Prime Minister William Pitt and for the most part this felt like a chronological history lesson instead of a drama that enthused me with the controversial issues of a debate that took all but a decade to reach a meaningful parliamentary vote. There is little of substance to what debate there was and whilst the film makes no bones about the position it takes, it does not flesh out the arguments out using rigorous discussion or characterisation to help illustrate just why it all took so long; just why the populace were indifferent to these atrocities. I found that this just overly relied on our own repugnance for the subject matter to bother developing the themes interestingly and provocatively - and I found myself struggling with it as it neared the two hour mark. A serious biopic of this visionary and dedicated man and of his friends and of his opponents would certainly make for compelling viewing - sadly, though, this isn't that!