Believing his life's work has been in vain, he becomes physically ill, suffering from chronic colitis which causes him to become addicted to laudanum prescribed for the crippling pain, which brings the story back up to 1797. Wilberforce keeps up the fight but after years of failure he is left exhausted and frustrated that he was unable to change anything in the government. Pitt, now facing the stresses of leading a shaky coalition during the French Revolutionary Wars, tells Wilberforce that his cause must now wait for a more stable political climate. Afterward, the film portrays Pitt as one of his few friends and allies remaining in Parliament, however even their relationship becomes strained. Despite popular support and the assistance of an unlikely ally in the form of Charles James Fox, Wilberforce's bill to abolish the slave trade goes down to defeat. He is opposed by a coalition of MPs and peers representing vested interests of the slave trade in London, Bristol, Glasgow, and Liverpool led by Banastre Tarleton and the Duke of Clarence. Wilberforce's passionate campaigning leads him to become highly unpopular in the House of Commons. Pitt gives Wilberforce the opportunity to present a bill before the house outlawing the slave trade.
Pitt becomes Prime Minister and Wilberforce becomes a key supporter and confidant. Newton urges Wilberforce to take up the cause. As a former slave ship captain turned Christian, he deeply regrets his past life and the effects on his fellow man. His conviction in the cause deepens following a meeting with his former mentor John Newton (introduced mopping a church floor dressed in sackcloth) who is said to live "in the company of 20,000 ghosts… slaves". Wilberforce contemplates leaving politics to study theology, but is persuaded by his friends William Pitt, Thomas Clarkson, Hannah More, and Olaudah Equiano that he will be more effective doing the work of God by taking on the unpopular and dangerous issue of the abolition of the British slave trade. Beginning as a young, ambitious, and popular Member of Parliament (MP), he experiences a religious enlightenment and aligns himself with the evangelical wing of the Church of England. The story flashes back 15 years to 1782, and Wilberforce recounts the events that led him to where he is now. Although he initially resists any romantic overtures, she convinces him to relate the story of his career. It is here that Wilberforce is introduced to his future wife, Barbara Spooner. In 1797, William Wilberforce is severely ill and taking a recuperative holiday in Bath, Somerset, with his cousin, Henry Thornton. The film premièred on 16 September 2006 at the Toronto International Film Festival, followed by showings at the Heartland Film Festival, the Santa Barbara International Film Festival, and the European Film Market, before opening in wide US release on 23 February 2007, which coincided with the 200th anniversary of the date the British parliament voted to ban the slave trade. Newton is portrayed as a major influence on Wilberforce and the abolition movement. The film also recounts the experiences of John Newton as a crewman on a slave ship and subsequent religious conversion, which inspired his writing of the poem later used in the hymn. The title is a reference to the 1772 hymn " Amazing Grace". “Amazing Grace” was a partial reflection of his own self-perception at the time and his ultimate transformation into a man of faith.Amazing Grace is a 2006 biographical drama film directed by Michael Apted, about the abolitionist campaign against the slave trade in the British Empire, led by William Wilberforce, who was responsible for steering anti-slave trade legislation through the British parliament. In “Amazing Grace,” Newton’s first verse is about the grace of God, and one that saved him from his own wretchedness- Amazing grace how sweet the sound / That saved a wretch like me. began incorporating it into sermons in the 1950s. The hymn was left unnoticed in England until Methodist and Baptist preachers in the U.S. Ordained in the Church of England in 1764, Newton became a clergyman and premiered “Amazing Grace” during a sermon on New Year’s Day in 1773. Though he was still involved in the slave trade until 1750, upon his return home he began reading the bible, along with other religious literature, and slowly converted to Christianity. Newton’s near-death experience marked a spiritual transformation for the former seafarer. Shortly after, the storm died down, and he made it safely back to land nearly two weeks later.
Fearing its impending sink, Newton called out to God for mercy.
On his return voyage home, Newton’s ship hit a severe storm off the coast of Donegal, Ireland, and was violently swept at sea.
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