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Title: Good movie, missed on John Newton
Review: The wonderful Albert Finney brings an excellent performance as John Newton, but the script has him altogether wrong. The "guilt-ridden penitent monk" might have been a good script device, but it isn't at all what Newton was like. He was an excellent preacher with a strong reputation, he reveled in God's grace and the assurance of his forgiveness. Wish they could have done a fairer job for the forgiven old slave trader, especially since they purloined his hymn for the title -- which now makes it hard for anyone to use the title for a movie ABOUT Newton, a story that is fantastically dramatic and begs to be turned into a film.
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