NeoZine

This movie is a must-see for the thinking mind – not just Christians. It’s effects are haunting. In one scene, Wilberforce charges into a bar where a black slave was treated contemptuously. He rudely interrupts the crowd as they’re singing some drinking song, stands on a table, and begins to sing Amazing Grace. The first few stanzas of the slow, mournful song are greeted with hoots and cat-calls, and it looks like Wilberforce will be utterly disgraced. But he continues to sing it with bravado, and the song’s sweet tune starts to capture the crowd’s attention. The drunks grow silent and soon everyone is listening in awe.

This is but one of the many profound contrasts this movie makes about the apparent weakness of God’s love against the brutality and violence of man. Yes, Grace seems weak and soft, but it is powerful and victorious through the determined godliness of faithful men like Wilberforce.

You would not expect to see a group of high school students at this movie – it’s not the Terminator by any stretch. But when the lights of the theater turned on, I looked around at a theater full of 40+ somethings staring in disbelief at our High School cell group of eight boys bounding out of the theater. At that moment I realized how very much we older-types devalue teenage minds, because those boys were definitely impacted by Amazing Grace.

Read Joe Allie’s excellent movie review, and go see the movie while it’s still showing on the Big Screen – the cinematography is astounding and must be seen on that screen size to grasp its full impact!

Related posts:

1. Grace Cathedral
2. The Meeting House