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Tonya
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Tonya
Post Number: 4559
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, February 25, 2007 - 10:28 am: | 
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Film hopes to educate people about British abolitionist
by Bruce Dancis
McClatchy Newspapers (MCT)
25 February 2007
William Wilberforce is not a household name, particularly in America in the 21st century. Unless you are a student of British history or are aware of Ohio’s Wilberforce University, the first private African American college in the United States, you are not likely to be familiar with the British member of Parliament who led a more than 30-year struggle to abolish slavery and the slave trade.
This may change in the coming months with the nationwide release Friday of the movie “Amazing Grace.” Starring Ioan Gruffudd (pronounced Yo-wahn Griffith) in the title role, the film is directed by Michael Apted ("Coal Miner’s Daughter,” “The World Is Not Enough,” “49 Up") and features an esteemed cast—including Albert Finney, Michael Gambon, Rufus Sewell, Ciaran Hinds and African singer Youssou N’Dour—as real-life characters taken from the history books.
How far the film’s distributors will have to go to build an audience for “Amazing Grace” can be seen by the fact that even Gruffudd, who grew up in Wales, admitted in a recent phone interview that “I was sort of ignorant that Wilberforce was the reason why the slave trade act came into fruition. I was educated myself by reading the script and going on to play the part.”
But, added the actor, who is probably best known to American audiences for his starring role as Reed Richards, aka Mr. Fantastic, in “Fantastic Four” and as Horatio Hornblower in a series of imported TV movies, “I’m sure (the film) will be educating a whole new generation of people towards this subject.”
That subject is the effort by British abolitionists from the late 1780s through the first decades of the 19th century to persuade the British public—or at least the male property holders who were the only ones allowed to vote—to end slavery in the British Empire. For tactical reasons, they decided to first attack the slave trade and then take on the basic issue of slavery.
Wilberforce, the son of a wealthy merchant, was already known as a brilliant orator and deeply pious man when radical abolitionist Thomas Clarkson (Sewell), a former African slave named Oloudah Equiano (N’Dour) and others approached him about joining their cause and leading the fight in the House of Commons. According to the movie, Wilberforce was encouraged in this endeavor by his good friend, Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger (played by Benedict Cumberbatch), and his minister, John Newton (Albert Finney), a former captain of a slave ship who had renounced slavery and entered the ministry. It was Newton who wrote the famous hymn “Amazing Grace,” which is featured in the film.
Some powerful members of Parliament claimed that the end of the slave trade would mean the ruin of the British shipping industry, on which much of the British economy was based, while others saw nothing wrong with the institution of human slavery. To change public opinion, Wilberforce and his colleagues engaged in an unprecedented campaign of speechmaking, leading tours of slave ships to show the horrendous conditions, gathering signatures on petitions and holding public rallies.
Despite some difficult years following the French Revolution, when reform in general was impeded as British politics turned more reactionary and repressive, by 1807, the tide had turned. In that year, Parliament overwhelmingly passed Wilberforce’s bill to abolish the slave trade, and the king gave his assent a month later. But Parliament did not vote to abolish slavery within the empire until 1833.
Despite its historical subject matter, “Amazing Grace” tells a story of courage and commitment that could resonate today. And since Feb. 23, 2007, turns out to be the bicentennial of the abolition of the slave trade, the British government, led by Prime Minister Tony Blair, is spearheading an effort to celebrate the accomplishment throughout Britain.
In the next few months, there will be lecture series, conferences, museum exhibits, special church services, the issuing of a commemorative coin and commemorative stamps, and at least five BBC documentaries (four films and one radio show) on Wilberforce and the anti-slave trade act.
In November, Blair issued a statement condemning the slave trade as “one of the most inhuman enterprises in history” and praised those who fought for its abolition. He concluded by saying that this 200th anniversary “is a chance for all of us to increase our understanding of the heritage we share, celebrate the richness of our diversity and increase our determination to shape the world with the values we share.”
Adam Hochschild, the San Francisco-based author of the National Book Award finalist “Bury the Chains: Prophets and Rebels in the Fight To Free an Empire’s Slaves” (Mariner Books, 468 pages paperback, $16), helped place “Amazing Grace” and all this activity in context.
In 1907, the centennial year, nothing took place in Britain to celebrate the anti-slave trade victory, Hochschild pointed out. But this year, he said, “a lot of the impetus is coming from the fact that Britain is a multicultural society and this is something that can be celebrated in a way that seems to give credit to Britain as well as being of importance to black Britons.”
(According to the 2001 census, the most recent year for which data is available, minorities make up about 8 percent of Britain’s population, divided primarily among black people descended from Africa and the Caribbean, Asians descended from India and Pakistan and those of mixed ethnicity.)
Hochschild views “Amazing Grace” as “an extremely well-made and well-acted movie. ... But as a political representation of what happened, I think it seriously distorts the picture.”
The problem, in the view of Hochschild and some members of Britain’s black community, is that the film and the bicentennial celebrations are, in Hochschild’s words, “in the grand tradition of making Wilberforce the sole hero.” Indeed, there is a long legacy of books that cite Wilberforce as “the man who freed the slaves.”
It’s a viewpoint that still finds public expression. Christopher Hudson, in London’s Daily Mail, wrote that Wilberforce “was almost single-handedly responsible for the abolition of the brutal trade.” And one large foundation, the John Templeton Foundation, has funded the creation of a new documentary film “to make William Wilberforce a household name again, as he was 200 years ago.”
Few observers wish to denigrate Wilberforce’s work or deny him the credit he deserves. However, according to Hochschild and some of the British critics of what is derisively being referred to as “Wilberfest,” both the movie and the bicentennial activities leave out crucial things.
The first omission, said Hochschild, which the movie only alludes to, is “the enormously popular and at times almost unruly popular movement (against slavery), which erupted with great suddenness in early 1788. It caught on everywhere like wildfire.”
Yet other than a scene in “Amazing Grace” in which Wilberforce in Parliament unfurls an anti-slave trade petition signed by more than 300,000 people, the mass movement is ignored.
“The other thing,” said Hochschild, “is the role of the slave rebellions in the West Indies, which is referred to just in passing. ... People were beginning to realize that part of slavery was putting down slave rebellions, and that was very costly to British lives.”
It is this aspect of the bicentennial celebrations that has irritated some black Britons the most. Darcus Howe, referring to himself as a descendent of slaves, wrote in the New Statesman: “It was our ancestors who defeated slavery. We had constantly been told that it was William Wilberforce who was responsible for our freedom, even though it is now on record that, from 1791 to 1804, slaves launched guerrilla warfare, culminating in defeat for the Spanish, French and British, and the declaration of independence by Haiti. ...
“It was this movement, and this movement alone, that set Wilberforce and his friends in motion.”
Still, whatever the sins of omission of “Amazing Grace” and the bicentennial, there remains much to admire and celebrate in the life and work of William Wilberforce. While, as Hochschild points out in his book, Wilberforce was in many ways a conservative who opposed the expansion of the franchise to women and the poor, viewed the existence of wealth and poverty as “God’s wish,” and spoke out often against society’s bad “manners” (i.e., sin), he was at the forefront of many reform efforts.
In addition to his anti-slavery activities, Wilberforce was involved in the founding of what became the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and was personally caring toward the poor, prison inmates and the tenants on his large estate.
He was also known as one of the most brilliant orators of his time. A man of slight physical stature, Wilberforce’s gifts as a speaker were described this way by the famous contemporary writer James Boswell: “I saw what seemed a mere shrimp mount upon the table, but, as I listened, he grew, and grew, until the shrimp became a whale.”
For actor Gruffudd, playing the part of such a man was “a humbling experience.” Wilberforce “was one of the greatest orators, and it was a great honor (to portray him),” Gruffudd said.
Gruffudd doesn’t expect “Amazing Grace” to put up big box-office numbers, especially in America, but he hopes it will find its audience. Working with his fellow cast members was “a real privilege and an honor,” he said, noting that the movie’s “subject matter helped to create a humble nature and the feeling that we wanted to represent these great men in such a way.”
At a time when Americans know far too little about our own abolitionists, such as Frederick Douglass, William Lloyd Garrison, Wendell Phillips and Harriet Tubman, it’s probably a stretch to see crowds flocking to see “Amazing Grace.”
Yet even Hochschild, despite his criticisms of “Amazing Grace,” concluded that “as a film and an entertainment experience, it is terrific.” From it, one can learn about some of the heroic people who helped bring about the end of the scourge of slavery. And that’s no small accomplishment.
http://www.popmatters.com/pm/news/article/11855/film-hopes-to-educate-people-about-british-abolitionist/ |
Libralind2
Veteran Poster
Username: Libralind2
Post Number: 653
Registered: 09-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Sunday, February 25, 2007 - 01:35 pm: |
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I'll be seeing this..
LiLi |
Abm
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Abm
Post Number: 8560
Registered: 04-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, February 26, 2007 - 09:46 am: |
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Wonder when Hollywood will be brave enuff to make and/or distribute a major motion picture about NAT TURNER. |
Tonya
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Tonya
Post Number: 4569
Registered: 07-2006
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, February 26, 2007 - 02:39 pm: |
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...Thank You!!! |
Chrishayden
AALBC .com Platinum Poster
Username: Chrishayden
Post Number: 3751
Registered: 03-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Monday, February 26, 2007 - 03:30 pm: |
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Wonder when Hollywood will be brave enuff to make and/or distribute a major motion picture about NAT TURNER
(We won't live to see anything truthful--probably something like the Styron novel-- |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 7508
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, February 27, 2007 - 12:59 pm: |
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A black film maker like Spike Lee or John Singleton should be who takes on the Nat Turner story. Of course there's little incentive to do so since it probably wouldn't be a commercial success. "Amazing Grace" didn't fare to well at this week's box office. |
Jackie
Regular Poster
Username: Jackie
Post Number: 464
Registered: 04-2005
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, February 27, 2007 - 01:09 pm: |
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John Singleton is too busy producing movies like Black Snake Moan...
If I had to choose tho, I'd prefer Spike Lee to make a movie about Nat Turner. Spike directed Inside Man with Denzel...and I thought it was a good job. Lee seems to be more versatile in his directing. He also directed 25th Hour with Ed Norton. Btw, Cynique you know, A History of Violence is on DVD now. Just purchased it this weekend. |
Cynique
"Cyniquian" Level Poster
Username: Cynique
Post Number: 7514
Registered: 01-2004
Rating: N/A
Votes: 0 (Vote!) | | Posted on Tuesday, February 27, 2007 - 02:13 pm: |
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LOL, Jackie. You still remember that I used to have a thing for ol Viggo who has just dropped out of view and consequently been crossed off my "to-do" list. But I have seen "A History of Violence" with the steamy love scene on the stair case several times because the movie is now running on Cable TV. Hot. |
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