Rufus Sewell makes a fine Thomas Clarkson in that movie, too. Inspired by this I'm reading at the moment Thomas Clarkson's "An essay on the slavery and commerce of the human species" (1785/86). I'm amazed by its brilliance, compassion and firm belief in the equality of all people.
Not very easy to read but a worthy little book.

Good film apart from the harrowing scene early on.

Oh yeah.  Sorry, I know you are grown up!
I just warned my(sensitive) daughter about it!

Yep.  Good man.

Perfectly sound analysis - but I had hoped you'd go a little deeper 

Oh yes! A lot. Now I need to do some reading.

Schmiezi, pls write some more when you are ready 

Ok, so as mentioned elsewhere, finally discovered 'Amazing Grace' after hearing it mentioned here, plus slowly trying to get to a handful of older titles with our favorite actors thanks to it being so neat to see what else they did and hearing you guys mention them so much.    Plus thankfully the library had a copy.    Pretty cool not only seeing your favorites in such different roles (seriously, Martin in 'Wild Target'!), but in a historical role, isn't it? (this is me looking enviously at you Parade's End touters) 

Frankly…. this was, in a way, amazing.  Sure, I was a bit lost in Ben at first, seeing him so neatly different and still so greatly expressive, then his story with Ioan's character and becoming quickly appreciative of that guy as well.  Seriously, both of their acting during more intense moments, or moments they were physically afflicted.  And felt a little silly for being so bad at history that I had no idea of much of the details of this stuff that you would have thought had been in our texts, or the tie-in to the song (I'll do you one better with your comment about it, Susi - somehow I had completely missed, or 'deleted' the fact that it was about slavery at all and not just a reverend's musical moment of soul-searching!) and the fact that so much of it started so 'early' in the century, it seemed!  Then again, perhaps Wilberforce was mentioned and not covered much, then forgotten, plus being on the other side of the ocean, I remember the period we went through (that being right after the Revolutionary war, leading to our Civil war where those issues came more to the fore-front) and the major players back then, but not so much all the British counterparts, or what they had already done for the trade by that point.  Ah well.  I'm sure I'm hardly the only one? 

But then… the story itself and well-done production of it to the screen….  just really great.  Definitely recommend to others just learning about it now, too, Ben/Ioan fans or not.  ;D  Wilberforce… Lincoln… MLK… etc, just how much they did in the face of the world that keeps repeating it's desire to cling to an old way (hence why it tied in so well to recent posted thoughts on humanity in Holocaust thread…).   Heck, I even mentioned it to a much older black friend, curious if his background/schooling had touched on it more than mine had, and of course he was immediately all 'Oh!  Wilberforce!  Cool!'  ;P  Apparently he knew -quite- a bit more, especially what with his sister having gone to Wilberforce University not two hours from here, that I hadn't remembered either!  Quoting it's wiki, was created in 1859 (less than a couple decades after his death) in his honor, a "private, coed, liberal arts historically black university (HBCU) located in Wilberforce, Ohio. Affiliated with the African Methodist Episcopal (AME) Church, it was the first college to be owned and operated by African Americans."   Huh.  Plus the couple monuments dedicated to him and start of the SPCA…. had no idea what a great key figure he had been, or Pitt…  guess you get re-educated every single day.  ;p  : )

Seriousness aside, I think I could be pardoned for one moment of a bit of a humorously delighted 'squeee' with the one scene of the movie with Ben and Ioan being utterly lightheartedly adorable… I'm sure you other fans know what I mean…  ;)   Mattlocked, a couple gifs from the same moment as your screencap, it was after they were racing each other!  ;)
http://cheekbonesofbenny.tumblr.com/post/26719382660
Love it.

Lovely find from the Rufus Sewell board:
http://rufussewell.proboards.com/thread/169?page=7

"the only actor i did not know in the top credits is the young guy who played william pitt. i liked him. historically he has perfectly captured the style and manners of the era he was portraying,while he was probably the youngest actor on board. he perfectly rendered Pitt's conflicting convictions. as is very rare for a young actor, he portrayed the ravages of age with dignity and made them so believable..."

Last edited by Harriet (June 14, 2013 10:24 pm)

I wonder who this young guy might be. Sounds quite promising...