This documentary serves not only as a record of history (a vital recording, as many involved are no longer with us - some, like Marion Williams, passing only a few years later), but also as a record of how important the measured, intelligent tone of the best of PBS matters in a media world that often feels so shallow. Bill Moyers is the perfect host for this type of project, which would feel much more jumbled without his steady, understated presence.
Three very different approaches are interwoven - a reading of John Newton's letters (very effective work by Jeremy Irons), interviews with various legendary singers about their experiences with the hymn, and a look at various choirs, churches, and family gatherings (like so much, segregated between black and white), as they talk about and perform their own interpretations of the song. I'm tempted to say this would have worked better in a two-part format, to allow more room to breathe, but the more compact form means less repetition and less empty pontificating.
The powerful rendition by Williams that closes out the documentary may be the best part, but my favorite is probably when Moyers talks with a black congregation in Alabama. A few of the women call a girl over, who sings her own version, with some new lyrics that fit her own view of her faith and what the song means to her. It's a subtle, moving way of showing us that Amazing Grace will continue on in many forms, and that it continues to be uniquely special to each person who listens to or perform it - just as Newton would have likely wanted it to be.
