| 10+Cautions: language, some intensity, and immodesty and brief mild sensuality
Amazing Grace is an antagonist’s story—the story of a ruthless man who spent decades trying to strip thousands of men of their livelihoods, their investments, and even their protection under the law. This man, bent on destroying an entire industry, is a legendary hero now, but when William Wilberforce stood up in Great Britain’s legislative body, he was the enemy, because the industry he was trying to destroy was the buying and selling of millions of human beings, and almost every man in parliament wanted to see them bought and sold by the millions for a long time yet.
2006 | Michael Apted | 118 min
Language
G-d
G-d
G-d
G-d
for G-d’s sake
h-ll
h-ll
h-ll
h-ll
h-ll
bl--dy h-ll
bl--dy
bl--dy
bl--dy
bl--dy
bl--dy
bl--dy
bl--dy
bl--dy
b-llocks
a--
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A negatively-portrayed character uses the derogatory word n-gger twice.
A positively-portrayed character tells someone to use information to “d-mn” his adversaries.
There is some parliamentary sarcasm and mockery.
Some Intensity
There are descriptions of the barbarism of the slave trade, including “scalded to death in the fire,” and “they take the very sickest and throw them overboard…” for example. A former slave pulls his shirt back to reveal the brand on his chest. A man says that slave traders “stuff knotted rope in the anuses of the sick to disguise the dysentery.”
A couple of very brief, blurred dream-like sequences show slaves being burned (accidentally) in a fire. Wilberforce briefly hallucinates, seeing a slave boy rattling chains.
Wilberforce attempts to quit laudanum, undergoes a violent attack of pain, and begins rambling incoherently.
An unsaved character is seen on his deathbed.
A horse is briefly beaten by negatively-portrayed characters.
Immodesty and Brief Mild Sensuality
A woman wears cleavage-revealing dresses in several scenes.
There are brief glimpses of nude statues in the background (too distant to be a major problem, though).
Half-dressed male slaves are very briefly seen in a non-sensual context.
A married couple kiss lightly.
In a dream sequence, men are seen carousing at on opera with women on their laps.
There are brief references to whores and to girls being debauched.
Note:
Amazing Grace is based on a true story and is accurate in the major points, although a few points have been slightly altered.
Wilberforce is dependent on opium because of a severe chronic illness. He and others are seen preparing laudanum in a non-sensational way. As referenced above, he later quits it.
Characters drink alcohol. A grieving man sits drinking and weeping next to a grave, clearly drunk.
John Newton (a Protestant), is seen dressed in sackcloth mopping church floors, and makes a joke about pretending he’s a monk. Nothing is made of this, however.
Wilberforce says that the water in Bath “has been here for a million years.” This can be taken literally or hyperbolically.
Gambling is seen and referenced, though Wilberforce is said to have given it up after his conversion.
Wilberforce’s free education bill is referenced.
