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Rather than sticking to a straightforward chronological narrative, the movie opens in 1797 with an older and ailing Wilberforce, hallucinating from laudanum and haunted by his failure to achieve his goal, and then shifts back 15 years to Wilberforce as a young man, newly elected to Parliament and plotting strategy with future Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger (an excellent Benedict Cumberbatch). Sparkling bits of dialogue inject warmth and humor into the story, whether it is a servant... (Buffalo News -- Entertainment)
This history lesson worth repeating Feb 23, 2007
The film traces Wilberforce's introduction to the abolition movement through his friend and future Prime Minister William Pitt (Benedict Cumberbatch, soon to be seen in Atonement) to his decision to eschew the pulpit for the more earthly if seemingly impossible task of pushing profit-hungry politicians to abolish slavery. Apted tells much of his story in flashback, which might be awkward or confusing except for Gruffudd's transformation: As a young man with flowing dark locks, he's charismatic... (The Miami Herald)
`Amazing Grace' is saga of anti-slavery crusade Feb 23, 2007
His religious zeal for the cause first alarms his friends, but then the wily future prime minister, William Pitt the Younger (Benedict Cumberpatch), finds a way to use it, and him. God sometimes does his work with a gentle drizzle, not a storm. (Akron Beacon Journal, OH -- Entertainment)
Britain's great emancipator Feb 23, 2007
A close friend of the young prime minister, William Pitt, Wilberforce joined Parliament in his early 20s and devoted his life to the abolitionist movement and, later, to the emancipation of slaves. He died in 1833 at 73, three days after the Abolition of Slavery Bill was passed in the House of Commons. (Seattle Times)
SLAVE TRADE'S HOLY WARRIOR Feb 23, 2007
" Wilber makes it his personal mission to pass a law abolishing the slave trade. He's a soft touch whose house gradually fills with hungry beggars and broken animals, but he shows muscle in Parliament by allying with his friend William Pitt the Younger, who would be prime minister at age 24, to pass a bill outlawing the slave trade. As he becomes a voice for change, he regains his singing ability, too, in a startlingly earnest scene in a gentleman's club in which he delivers the film's title... (New York Post -- Entertainment)
Amazing Grace Feb 22, 2007
The actors fill these stuffed shirts with as much quiet energy as they can: Benedict Cumberbatch as foxy prime minister William Pitt, Albert Finney as the blind, raging Newton, Romola Garai as Wilberforce's supportive wife. But they're no more individualized than the wrinkled, sneering legislators (Toby Jones, Ciaran Hinds) who insist British economic needs should trump human suffering. (San Jose Mercury News -- Entertainment)
Abolition of slavery Feb 15, 2007
Inevitably, then, Wilberforce dominates the movie as he did the campaign, but his allies included the prime minister, William Pitt the Younger (Benedict Cumberbatch), and fellow members of the so-called Clapham Sect, not least Thomas Clarkson (Rufus Sewell). The former slave trader John Newton (Albert Finney) and a freed slave, Olaudah Equiano (Youssou N'Dour), encouraged him, while Lord Charles Fox (Michael Gambon) eventually backed him in Parliament. (International Herald Tribune)
British Food - The Humble Pie Feb 9, 2007
" The practice of eating meat pies cooked with spices and fruits continued well into the 18th Century. Sweet veal pies of that period contained layers of marrow above and below the meat, along with candied orange, raisins and brandy. In 1806, the great statesman William Pitt, uttered on his death bed one of his more meaty statements. "I think I could eat one of Bellamy's veal pies. During the 19th Century the taste for sweetened meat pies gradually switched to the less extravagant savoury pie. (Suite101.com)
Writing contest planned Feb 4, 2007
The conference will feature poet William Pitt Root, a three-time winner of the Pushcart Prize and a Pulitzer nominee, as its keynote presenter. Root, a former post-graduate fellow at Stanford and Tucson s first poet laureate, has written nine books, including The Storm and Other Poems, Faultdancing, Invisible Guests and Reasons for Going it on Foot. (Sierra Vista Herald, AZ)
- Tristram Hunt Jan 28, 2007
William Pitt might have called the royal parks 'the lungs of London', but few had the chance to enjoy them. That all changed in 1833 with the Select Committee for Public Walks 'to consider the best means of securing Open Spaces in the vicinity of populous towns as Public Walks and Places of Exercise, calculated to promote the Health and Comfort of the Inhabitants. (Guardian Unlimited)
Famed human trafficking opponent Wilberforce profiled in book, movie Jan 26, 2007
Wilberforce went to St. John's College in Cambridge and became a close friend to William Pitt, who later would be prime minister. He took a continental holiday and began a course of reading that led him to a new commitment to the Bible and its principles of justice. (WorldNetDaily)
Region offers day of tribute to Martin Luther King Jr. Jan 16, 2007
Jumpstart AmeriCorps volunteers gathered at the William Pitt Union to create 1,400 family activity packets for Jumpstart Pittsburgh, an organization that serves children in low-income families. "You leave and think, 'Wow, I just did something great,'" said Molly Ferguson, a Pitt junior and Jumpstart volunteer. (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, PA)
Stepping into poverty's shoes Jan 14, 2007
V.W.H. Campbell, Post-Gazette Carmela Senior of the North Side Community Alliance, plays a grandmother, who cannot afford eyeglasses for her 9 year-old son, who she argues with at right, played by Greg Kaminski of P.S.V.P. University of Pittsburgh is doing a poverty simulation at the William Pitt Union ballroom to show people what it would really feel like to struggle to make ends meet ... In the ballroom of the William Pitt Student Union in Oakland, Ms. Knight and about 100 others spent... (Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, PA)
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