Warning: The movies I like the best generally get poor reviews with movie critics.  “It’s a Wonderful Life” is one of my all-time favorite movies.  I love the epic battle between good and evil and do not think it is “over the top” when good triumphs.  I love movies that make me want to be better.  I realize these kinds of movies aren’t for everyone.  So, if you don’t agree with my cinematic preferences, you’re probably not going to like this movie.

Forever Strong, is a movie (based on a true story) about Rick Penning, a self-centered, out-of-control, star rugby player who lands himself in a juvenile corrections facility after a repeat drunk driving accident in which he almost killed his girlfriend.  The director of the corrections facility notices Rick’s love for rugby and offers Rick the opportunity to play for the longtime rival Highland Rugby team, and its legendary Coach Gelwix. 

This coach has a philosophy that he would rather help young men to be champions in life than to be champions on the field.  This core philosophy is demonstrated when the coach allows Rick to stay in the first game even though the team is being destroyed because of Rick’s “me-first” mentality.

Gelwix emphasizes team play and has a policy prohibiting, liquor, drugs, cigarettes and fooling around with girls, as he tries to teach his players to be “forever strong” in life and not just on the field.  Rick struggles with the dichotomy of the person he was and the person he is becoming. Rick’s evolution as a team player is symbolized through his participation with the team in the Maori war dance, the Haka. 

Rick is finally released from the corrections facility and returns to his home and his old team.  However, when he doesn’t fall back into his old ways, his old friends mock him and plant drugs and alcohol on him so that he ends up back in jail.

The defining scene shows Rick’s father visiting him in jail.  Rick’s father won’t believe that Rick has changed, but Rick stands and declares that he is a Highland Rugby player and would never do anything to disgrace his family or his team.  Rick ends that scene by telling his father “Kia Kaha” which means “forever strong” in Maori.

I enjoyed Rick’s strength to change despite intense pressures. I loved the strength of the Coach Gelwix character in shaping young rugby players to be champions in life.  Kia Kaha.

The Song “Amazing Grace”

When William Wilberforce was a child, his pastor was John Newton, the author of the song “Amazing Grace”. John had been the captain of a British slave ship, and had transported tens of thousands of slaves in abominable conditions. He later became a priest to atone for his sins, but lived with thousands of ghosts “haunting” him for his deeds of the past. The first time Wilberforce visits Newton in the movie, Wilberforce is contemplating becoming a pastor instead of continuing with politics. Newton encourages Wilberforce that he has an important work to do. Newton finally confesses his role in the slave trade, possibly as a result of Wilberforce’s outspoken position against slavery, and then Newton writes his memoirs which helped Wilberforce to document the atrocities of the slave trade for his political battle to abolish slavery. During Wilberforce’s last visit to Newton, he discovers that his friend who wrote the words from Amazing Grace “I was blind but now I see”, is now himself blind.

The Fight to End the Slave Trade

Wilberforce was chronically ill for most of his political career. His anti-slavery bills were rejected each year by parliament for about 20 years, despite the fact that he collected extensive evidences of the slave trade and 390,000 signatures to support his cause. William Pitt had been Wilberforce’s friend since they were both teenagers. Pitt became Prime Minister at the age of 24 and was credited with encouraging Wilberforce to take up the abolitionist cause. However, during the war with France, Wilberforce’s friends, including Pitt turned against him. Finally, Wilberforce crafted an anti-slavery bill which was disguised as an anti-French bill, and this brought Wilberforce and Pitt back together as friends.

The Horrors of Middle Passage

Imagine being kidnapped from your home, your family and friends. You are forced to walk in chains with captors speaking languages you don’t understand, and you have no idea where you are going. You are taken to a ship where you are traded to the slave traders for guns and other merchandise. The captors make you lie down below deck in chains in a space that is about 4 feet by 18 inches by 18 inches. The stink of human waste, perspiration and death reak in the air. On your trip across the atlantic ocean you watch as the slave traders throw the dead as well as some living slaves overboard. More than half of these slaves may have died during this middle passage voyage of injustice, cruelty and unimaginable human suffering.

Olaudah Equiano

Olaudah Equiano is an important figure in the abolition of the English slave trade. He wrote his first-hand account of slavery and the slave trade in his memoirs The Interesting Narrative of the Life of Olaudah Equiano, which sold 50,000 copies in just a few months. This was a very important work because it was one of the only first-hand accounts of slavery, and helped to change public sentiment about many elements of slavery, which had previously been kept secret. Equiano saved up enough money to finally purchase his freedom from one of his various masters. He then traveled the world on many adventures. He eventually returned to England and became very active in the anti-slavery movement where he traveled the country bearing witness of the atrocities of slavery. The abolition of the slave trade was finally passed ten years after he died.

Conclusion

This movie was tremendously inspiring, and made me want to commit my life to make more of a meaningful difference for good. According to Anti-Slavery International, more than 12 million people are still in slavery today, more than 200 years after William Wilberforce succeeded in ending the English Slave Trade. Find out what you can do to help end slavery world-wide at AntiSlavery.org.

Find the Amazing Grace DVD at Amazon.com.