Selma (2015)

Selma is the latest film directed by Ava DuVernay and it tells the story of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s time in Selma, Alabama when he was working to get the people of Selma to march to Montgumery, Alabama in a fight for African –American people to gain the right to vote during the Civil Rights movement.  During this time, the film dedicates its opening minutes to a tragedy that occurs in Selma and examples of racism and bigotry people faced during that time period.

David Oyellowo portrays Dr. King as a flawed man who struggles with whether he truly can make change for African –American people.  While Oyellowo looks very little like Dr. King and is helped tremendously by prosthetics and a dialect coach that helped the actor master Dr. King’s cadence of speech and slightly southern accent.  The rest of the cast is filled with people who are unknowns.  Rapper Common and former Queen of daytime TV Oprah are the only two other recognizable names in the film.  Common is in the film because he provided a song for the soundtrack for the film.  Oprah portrays Alice Cooper and has one great scene toward the beginning of the film.  She is a producer on the film as well but she puts in a strong performance despite not being given a lot to do in the film.

The real strength of this film aside from the very compelling story is the supporting cast.  While all of the supporting cast is unknowns they do an excellent job of portraying the harsh realities of racism and bigotry in 1964 Alabama.  A key scene that was particularly that was particularly grim involves a night protest stopped by police who violently beat the protestors and during that scene a family of three a mother, father, and son working to escape the police run into an African-American restaurant where they are tracked down by police.  The mother and father are beaten and held down while their son is shot by another officer.  The violence in this film is necessary to depict the opposition faced by African-Americans and while it is a challenge to view it is also incredibly moving.

The other major strength of this film is seeing the civil rights movement through the eyes of the people who were preventing progress from being made on the movement.  This aspect of the film is something the film focused on and gave clear answers to.  This was quite unexpected but a pleasant surprise.  The southern politicians who argued to keep segregation from ending and wanted to keep the societal oppression going was beyond frustrating to watch but it was also incredibly important to showcase in this film.  The film worked hard not to villainize these men and women and just provide the opinions of those people.  The fact that the director even attempted to do that is a marvel in itself but to have those conversations and opinions be clear statements rather than vague statements of hatred is incredible.

The major shock that the audience may not be aware of is that Dr. King did in fact stray from his marriage with other women.  For someone who is touted as a leader of the fight for equality it is shocking but not unexpected information to learn.  The reaction to the idea of affairs by Dr. King from Coretta played Carmen Ejogo is fantastic.  She is headstrong and extremely blunt when confronting the idea that her husband has been straying from the marriage and I love the strength she shows in a moment when most directors would use that moment to ask the woman to be vulnerable.

The only negative issue that is glaring is the fact that there were only a few scenes where characters truly questioned the level of danger being a part of the Civil Rights Movement.  The film needed a few more voices that buckled under the strain of being constantly beaten and degraded.  Honestly, if a few more people did show opposition to how dangerous the protests were the film would feel even more unique.

Selma is both a raw and honest look at a certain section of the Civil Rights Movement and Dr. King and the uncertainty he felt about being able to succeed.  To say this film is important would be greatly understating it’s actual value in visualizing such a critical point in history.  This deserves an audience so that the mistakes of the past can be learned from and not repeated in the future.  We have not overcome but this helps us remember why people and groups of all kinds fight for equality.