Amazing Grace

Amazing Grace (2006) is a British-American historical drama directed by Michael Apted — watch online on iFILM. Ioan Gruffudd plays William Wilberforce, the MP who spent two decades of his career trying to dismantle the transatlantic slave trade at a time when that trade was making a fortune for the British establishment.

Parliament blocked him for years. His allies were few: a young William Pitt (Benedict Cumberbatch), already eyeing the prime ministership; the guilt-ridden former slave trader John Newton (Albert Finney), who wrote the hymn that gives the film its title; and a slowly widening circle of abolitionists against an entrenched majority. Romola Garai and Michael Gambon round out a cast that keeps the politics grounded in human stakes rather than speechifying.

Screenwriter Steven Knight, working from the historical record, structures the film as two timelines — the exhausted aftermath and the long campaign behind it. The approach suits a story driven not by battles but by procedural patience and moral stamina. For viewers who prefer period drama with actual political teeth, this one delivers. Stream Amazing Grace (2006) in full on iFILM.