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| www.selmamovie.com |
Selma covers two very busy years in the life of Dr. Martin Luther King Junior. The film opens with the 16th Street Baptist church bombing of 1963 and ends with the passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. The moments in between portrayed landmark events throughout the civil rights struggles including Annie Lee Cooper's attempts to register to vote, the marches on the Edmund Pettus Bridge from Selma to Montgomery, conversations Dr. King had with President Lyndon B. Johnson, conversations Lyndon B. Johnson had with J. Edgar Hoover as well as Alabama governor George Wallace, a few speeches from Dr. King (no, they didn't include that one), and a whole lot of violence.
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| Not that Selma www.cartoon-vector.com |
Running 2 hours and 7 minutes, the film covered a great deal of content, maybe even too much. Many critical events in American history were given only a few minutes' of screen time. Malcolm X was introduced to the audience briefly during a conversation with Coretta Scott King and his death was only mentioned in passing during the funeral of civil rights activist Jimmie Lee Jackson.
The film was held together by an incredibly well-cast ensemble of talented actors (none of whom received any recognition from the Academy) as well as emotionally devastating imagery. However, the narrative was somewhat directionless. DuVernay didn't budget screen time as well as she could have. Some critical issues seemed rushed while many bureaucratic conversations were drawn out. Despite this, the film has received the Academy Award nomination for Best Picture. Although I disagree with their decision to nominate the producers and not David Oyelowo, the film is still definitely worth watching.
3/5
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