Amazing Grace is a 2006 biographical drama film directed by Michael Apted, about the campaign against slave trade in the British Empire, led by William Wilberforce, who was responsible for steering anti-slave trade legislation through the British parliament. The title is a reference to the hymn "Amazing Grace". The film also recounts the experiences of John Newton as a crewman on a slave ship and subsequent religious conversion, which inspired his writing of the poem later used in the hymn. Newton is portrayed as a major influence on Wilberforce and the abolition movement. The film premiered... on 16 September 2006 at the Toronto Film Festival, followed by showings at the Heartland Film Festival, the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, and the European Film Market, before opening in wide U.S. release on 23 February 2007, which coincided with the 200th anniversary of the date the British parliament voted to ban the slave trade. The film begins in 1797 with William Wilberforce severely ill and taking a holiday in Bath, Somerset, with his cousin, Henry Thornton. It is here that William is introduced to his future wife, Barbara Spooner.
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| Release date: | September 16, 2006 |
| Directed by: | Michael Apted |
| Rated: |  |
| Runtime: | 117 Minutes |
| Producer: | Edward R. Pressman, Terrence Malick, Ken Wales, David Hunt, Patricia Heaton |
| Editor: | Rick Shaine |
| Music by: | David Arnold |
| Cinematography: | Remi Adefarasin |
| Screenplay by: | Steven Knight |
| Genre: | Biography |