Full Review

As any devoted watcher of late-night TV can tell you, the historical drama used to be a sturdy Hollywood staple, with "The Life of Emile Zola," "The Private Life of Henry VIII" and "The Young Mister Pitt" as prime examples.

William Pitt, England's youngest prime minister, actually figures heavily in the film under discussion: "Amazing Grace" (Samuel Goldwyn/Roadside), a film so good it just might resurrect the genre.

This compelling biography tells the story of William Wilberforce (Ioan Gruffudd), the great 18th-century British abolitionist.

Overcome by a desire to serve God, Wilberforce seriously considers leaving politics, and devoting himself to the church. His epiphany comes in his garden where he reveals to his astonished servant that God has found him. Pitt and others convince Wilberforce that he can serve God best as a political activist and by making a difference in the cause to outlaw slavery. (The Christian concept that all men are created equal was, in fact, key in putting an end to slavery.)

With the help of Pitt (Benedict Cumberbatch) who sees to it that Wilberforce is elected to the House of Commons, and other like-minded friends in Parliament and elsewhere -- such as Thomas Clarkson (Rufus Sewell), Lord Charles Fox (Michael Gambon) and Olaudah Equiano (Youssou N'Dour) -- Wilberforce would eventually, after tireless and courageous struggle over two decades, help an anti-slave trade bill pass in Parliament in 1807. But his triumph didn't come easily; he persevered through long bouts of illness and, for a time, with revolution in the air in France, the anti-slavery movement even carried a seditious stigma.

Prominent in the story is John Newton (Albert Finney), a former slave ship captain who, after renouncing his past, became a clergyman (and also wrote the words to "Amazing Grace"). At one point, Wilberforce enters a men's club and defiantly sings that hymn to demonstrate his conviction to the abolitionist cause, a stirring moment. Wilberforce's domestic life, including his long-lasting marriage to like-minded Barbara Spooner (Romola Garai), gets relatively little screen time, but "Amazing Grace" still registers as very much as a personal -- as much as political -- story.

The film has compelling performances from a first-rate British cast. Gruffudd particularly seems to have come into his own with a fine, heroic portrayal of a man driven by conscience. Cumberbatch makes an arresting Pitt, while Sewell, Gambon and Finney are excellent. Ciaran Hinds, Toby Jones and Bill Paterson make formidable opponents on the pro-slavery side.

With an audience-friendly script by Steven Knight, its full-throttle emotional conclusion and overall handsome production design by Charles Wood, director Michael Apted's film is especially admirable for its unabashed portrait of a passionate man of God, a rarity today.

"Amazing Grace" should find favor in schools, but this is no dry history lesson. Rather, it's a vital tribute to the man who, as his epitaph states, "prepared the way for the abolition of slavery in every colony of the empire."

The USCCB Office for Film & Broadcasting classification is A-II -- adults and adolescents. The Motion Picture Association of America rating is PG -- parental guidance suggested. Some material may not be suitable for children.

Movies have been evaluated by the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishop's Office for Film and Broadcasting according to artistic merit and moral suitability. The reviews include the USCCB rating, the Motion Picture Association of America rating, and a brief synopsis of the movie.

The classifications are as follows:

• A-I -- general patronage;
• A-II -- adults and adolescents;
• A-III -- adults;
• A-IV**
• L -- limited adult audience, films whose problematic content many adults would find troubling. L replaces the previous classification, A-IV.
• O -- morally offensive.