Alicia I love this movie so much

Inclubabu Plot so thin, it passes unnoticed.

Beulah Bram A film of deceptively outspoken contemporary relevance, this is cinema at its most alert, alarming and alive.

Darin One of the film's great tricks is that, for a time, you think it will go down a rabbit hole of unrealistic glorification.

Loki Laufeyson The story of William Wilberforce is a powerful one, and they couldn't have shown that better than in this film. William is a brave and loving man in the Georgian times, battling against the torturous ways of slavery. He is faced with many problems, and when he succeeds at final, God the Father takes his soul up to heaven the very next day, as the history books tell us. he is an example to us all, no matter how small we are, no matter how impossible our cause seems, no matter if there is but little hope; we can succeed. This film has changed my life, and I am ever indebted to it. He himself feels lost sometimes, for years even a failure. But he steps back on his horse as his beloved wife encourages him to fight again. And so he takes up all his friends once more, into the battle over slavery. His victory, in the end, has changed the way of the world today, and we are ever obliged to him. This is a must watch, and an amazing, moving, touching, spectacular, picture.

VaneWimsey How can you not root for William Wilberforce? He's against slavery! He's kind to animals! He loves his hot girlfriend! So the narrative does manage to carry you along. You might even shed a tear or two.For me, though, it was an uphill battle. The timeline jumps around wildly. At one point, it's explicitly said to be 1797, but after that, I could never keep it straight; some scenes seem to be flashbacks, but don't quote me. Also, characters aren't introduced properly.I'm not an evangelical Christian (in fact, I'm Jewish), but the film doesn't do justice to this aspect of Wilberforce's character. It was central to his life and to his abolitionist mission, but the movie reduces it to a sort of animist blithering about the beauties of nature.And it's full of historical howlers. A royal duke (the Duke of Cumberland) sitting in the House of Commons? "Lord" Charles Fox?!? It's a shame that the screen writing was so sloppy, because the costuming and set decoration are meticulously well-researched. The acting is also quite good. Weak though the script is, the cast manages to bring it to some semblance of life. I don't quite understand, however, why they took the trouble of casting an actor to play Pitt who looks uncannily like him, while the actors who play the other characters (including Wilberforce and Fox) look nothing like the originals at all.

museumofdave An amazingly rich historical picture of a human rights crusader, a film overlooked during its release, probably because all of those kids that review for the pop entertainment magazines were turned off by its involvement in moral dilemmas--the story doesn't offer much adolescent sex, and still less car wrecks, and nothing is blown up. What is does have is rich, involved performances by a dozen skilled English actors, including Ioan (pronounced Y0-ann) Griffud as real-life William Wilberforce, the man largely responsible for the abolition of slavery and slave ships in the British Empire; most folks in the U.S. seldom think of slavery as an English institution, but here in the home of Shakespeare, Milton and the Magna Carta it was an important source of wealth for those in power. One man's struggle is neatly juggled with his loves, friendships, and influences, and actors such as Ciarin Hinds, Michael Gambon, Rufus Sewell and the great Albert Finney create an impressive 111 minutes

antonjsw1 This is a very powerful drama that keeps the viewer totally captivated through to the films emotional climax. The story is a fictionalised dramatisation of the career of reforming politician William Wilberforce and his intention to pass legislation in government to abolish slavery in the British Empire. He is played with a tour de force performance by Welsh actor Ioan Gruffudd. Gruffudd is ably supported by an outstanding ensemble case, though particular mention has to go to actor Benedict Cumberbatch for his equally outstanding performance as fellow politician (and future prime minister) and best friend of Wilberforce William Pitt. Pitt's character is the pragmatist, and a wheeler-dealer, but Wilberforce is the more straightforward (if naive) character, who truly believes that the strength of the argument will win the day, and after some 20 years of trying, he finally achieves this. What is interesting about the film is that the main strength of the film is almost entirely down to excellent performances. British director Michael Apted is known for his films being primarily character based. While Charles Wood's production design, veteran Oscar-winning costume designer Jenny Beavan's (Gosford Park, Cranford and the King's Speech among her other credits), photographer Remi Adefarasin's and composer David Arnold's contributions are all first rate, this film is driven by Steve Knight's excellent script and outstanding acting performances of the entire cast. It is a real pleasure so see such skill from everyone in the cast, and how the actors all play off each other is really impressive. While the film is set at the turn of the 19th century, and therefore the film projects an appropriate atmosphere, the actors do play their roles in a way the feels real and totally accessible to an audience. It is known that Apted is renowned for creating a working environment that draws out good acting performances, and this is film is in the category of his best achievements in this regard, ranking alongside films such as Coal Miner's Daughter, Nell and Gorillas in the Mist. The film has no action to speak of, and Apted focuses the story on performance and dialogue rather, with mise-en-scene important but not the most important aspect of any sequence. However the film moves at a quick pace and sustains total interest throughout. Even actors in relatively smaller roles give outstanding performances, most notably Albert Finney as penitent former slaver turned monk John Newton and interest never sags. There are emotionally powerful moments, amusing and subtly comedic moments, exciting moments, sad moments, but all leading towards the films hugely emotional and enormously satisfying conclusion. The film is fairly straightforward in construction, though some of the changes of time-line are sometimes ambiguous and not easy to follow on the first viewing, but the film draws you in despite this minor gripe and will leave you touched and emotionally satisfied if you give a chance.