Selma

Ava DuVernay's Selma is an ambitious film that wisely follows the example of another bio drama, Steven Spielberg's Lincoln.  Instead of focusing on the entire life of its subject matter (in this case, Martin Luther King, Jr.), it focuses on an individual and pivotal moment in his career when he has already been established as a leader.  It's an imperfect film, and it feels a bit overstuffed with characters who aren't given enough screen time.  But there's no denying that it leaves a big impact.

Of course, it's impossible to watch the film and not think about recent events in Ferguson and New York.  Audiences are likely to draw a lot of parallels between watching white lawmen severely beating or murdering black citizens up on the screen, and the images of violence and protest that have been all over the cable news the past couple months.  But as a stand alone film, not a cultural barometer, it is an above average look at Dr. King's actions in 1965.  Here, King is played by David Oyelowo, giving a star-making performance.  As the film opens, we witness King in a private and intimate moment, fussing with his tie and trying to learn the words to the speech he's going to give accepting the Nobel Peace Prize.  Following this private moment of the man's life, we see a tragic moment in history as the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, AL is bombed by the Ku Klux Klan, killing four girls in the process. 

While the chronology of events is a bit off (the bombing occurred more than a year before King's award), it does set a tone that the rest of the film will follow, as it looks at both the private moments of King's life, and the public moments that drove him.  This is a movie about King's doubts and his personal fears as much as it is about his public persona.  Oyelowo portrays him as a fairly common man who sometimes fears what he is bringing himself and his followers with his action.  It also briefly touches on the fact that he may have been tempted by other women, something that puts a strain on his marriage to Coretta Scott King (Carmen Ejogo).  The constant death threats and pressure also weighs heavily upon King, and the movie depicts him as a man who manages to stay strong in the public light, but openly admits that he is tired in private.

Mostly, however, Selma is about King's strategy when he marched from Selma, AL to the state capitol in Montgomery that ultimately led to the landmark federal Voting Rights Act of 1965.  He intended the march to be a televised event, one that no one could ignore.  He knew that if people saw black people acting in a dignified, non-violent manner against the violent white police officers and locals, that he would get more people on his side.  At the time, he was trying to convince recently elected President Lyndon B. Johnson (Tom Wilkinson) to move ahead with a voting rights act.  Johnson was content to sit and "wait" on the issue, saying that he had more pressing business to attend to.  King wanted and needed the President to act, and in order to do so, he had to get the world's attention.

When Selma is focused solely on King, his uncertainties, and the pressures that he felt, the movie is as sharp and as precises as a needle.  However, it does try to tackle a few too many side stories that either aren't as developed as well as they should be, or the characters kind of disappear into King's group of followers after a successful introductory scene.  Early in the film, we see Annie Lee Cooper (Oprah Winfrey) trying to register to vote, and the unfair questioning by the official clerk that she has to go through in order to get her register approved.  It's a powerful and well-acted moment, but she never gets to truly stand out like that again during the course of the film.  This is a movie filled with great moments, chief amongst them being a scene depicting Malcolm X just weeks before he was assassinated.  The moments concerning an elderly man mourning the loss of his son after being killed by a police officer also have some great power.

But the movie doesn't know how to hold onto that power for the entirety of its just over two hour running time.  Some moments seem more melodramatic than they should, some seem oddly underplayed.  And with so many faces and characters making their way through the narrative, some are bound to get lost a little in the shuffle.  When the film flies, it does indeed soar high, and creates a rousing sensation within the audience.  It just doesn't hit the right notes constantly.  This is most likely the result of a slightly imbalanced screenplay that might have tried to cover too much.  There is a lot to admire here, but it comes a little short of the greatness it is obviously striving for.  The lead thing to admire here are the stirring performances, especially Oyelowo as King, who perfectly nails the personal and the public moments of Dr. King. 

The fact that the movie does not end with Dr. King's death gives Selma an open ended ending, which I feel is the right approach for the material.  It gives the viewer the sense that the fight that these people fought all those years ago is still going on.  One only needs to look to the news to see that.  As a movie, it is highly admirable, if not somewhat flawed.  As a note on our culture, it is a powerful statement.

See the movie times in your area or buy the DVD at Amazon.com!

0 comments