Friday, February 23, 2007
OpinionJournal - Taste: Hollywood's 'Amazing' Glaze: What the new movie covers up about William Wilberforce
re: Charlotte Allen: "It is rare that a Hollywood film takes up a subject like William Wilberforce (1759-1833), the British parliamentarian who devoted nearly his entire 45-year political career to banning the British slave trade. Alas, a lot of people watching "Amazing Grace," Michael Apted's just-released film, may get the impression--perhaps deliberately fostered by Mr. Apted--that Wilberforce was a mostly secular humanitarian whose main passion was not Christian faith but politics and social justice. Along the way, they may also get the impression that the hymn "Amazing Grace" is no more than an uplifting piece of music that sounds especially rousing on the bagpipes...[snip]...The movie "Amazing Grace" nods occasionally in the direction of granting a role to faith in social reform, but it would do us all well to supplement our time in the movie theater by doing some reading about the heroic and amazing Christian who was the real William Wilberforce."...
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1 comment:
Like Mozart's vulgarity, for a lot of people, is a bit too much to take. So when they did Amadeus, they toned it down.
Likewise, a mainstream American would probably find blatant faith a bit too much to take. So they have to tone it down a bit.
But after movies like this, people read biographies. And they'll be in for a surprise.
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