SCREEN

The story tells of how young activist William Wilberforce (Gruffudd) fought for decades in the House of Commons to abolish the slave trade. To make these crimes against humanity feel more visceral and real to his colleagues, he showcases a box built to the same torturous dimensions as those used to transport slaves and even lures a politician-laden luxury ship alongside a slave ship, to give the aristocrats a whiff of injustice and death. Ironically, the film itself is far less effective than Wilberforce in illustrating the plight of African slaves in a real and visceral way. Atrocities are described rather than shown, and of the film's two black characters, one has little dialogue and the other has none.

Where the film succeeds is in its portrait of naïve optimism and relentless compassion combating the self-interests of stuffy legislators. The best scenes take place in the House of Commons, where grown men hurl accusations and insults at each other like schoolyard children, until the one voice of reason is literally drowned out in the bureaucratic cacophony. These scenes feel disturbingly like C-SPAN.

But then most of the proceedings feel contemporary, with young idealists advocating "the will of the people," striving to sway heads of state by presenting them the gruesome reality that has been established by their policies. At one point, a character encourages the disillusioned Wilberforce by saying, "When [the people] stop being afraid, they rediscover their compassion." And when you take into account our modern administration's insistence that we maintain our fear, the point is all too clear. Another character adds, "You know as well as I do that the king is insane." Read into that what you will.