February is Black History Month, so it’s the best time to talk about Ava DuVernay’s take on a very important part of Black History, which is the march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama, that lead to the Voting Rights Act of 1965. Selma depicts the events leading to that march, during Martin Luther King Jr’s voting campaign.
Selma is such a powerful and important movie, with a strong subject and a strong message. It is a part of history that we need to remember. The situation was quite horrible: from white supremacists performing an act of terrorism by bombing a church that killed several children in Birmingham, Alabama, to State Trooper James Fowler killing Jimmie Lee Jackson without motive during a peaceful demonstration, to the police force violently repressing peaceful protesters outside Selma. There are some parts of those events I didn’t know about -plus I don’t think the movie is entirely historically correct- but even so, it got me thinking, and it got me researching and learning more about that period.
David Oyelowo simply blew my mind away. He is phenomenal as Martin Luther King Jr, it’s quite daunting. Carmen Ejogo as Coretta Scott King is stunning as well and a great addition to Oyelowo’s Luther King. Like I often say, casts are the most important part of a movie because if a cast is too different, something is going to be missing in the movie. Selma has is a very strong cast including the supporting acts, including rapper Common as James Bevel or Oprah Winfrey as Annie Lee Cooper, are just as good as the rest.
I was just bothered by the direction a wee bit. It’s a little sappy at times, maybe where it needed to be stronger. It’s not much of a negative point, but the exaggeration of the dramatization at times is a little bit too much. We get Ava DuVernay’s point of view, but she keeps adding to the story to prove a point she already made before. That being said, I still think she did an amazing job in directing her actors and showing what happened, plus, her cinematography is quite stunning.
In a way, it’s tragic to see that we, humans, rarely learn from our past mistakes. I mean, for decades and centuries, there has always been a major horrifying period or event that makes you doubt that there is good left in the world. Segregation, Holocaust, Wars etc…. They all created stereotypes and resentment embedded in a generation’s collective mind, but not directed towards the right people. Jews are still being killed because they’re jews, and black lives are still taken by police officers because of the colour of their skin. That’s what’s powerful and painful with Selma, how relevant it is in our present days. When you see what happened in Ferguson last year, I can’t believe that peaceful protesters, that have every right to take the streets to express their grief and anger, get that kind of violent treatment from an authority figure. It angered me so much to see so many people in distress, people that are using their voices to denounce something that isn’t right but that almost no one wants to hear. Like it’s been said a lot this past year, If you’re not angry, you’re really not paying attention.
I’m really sad that Selma only got two nominations at the Oscars this year, one for best song and one for Best Film. What a shame that Ava Duvernay, David Oyelowo, and more, didn’t get to be recognized here – when you see that American Sniper got 6 nominations … But for the lover of American history, social change, and empowerment, Selma is definitely worth the watch.
Rating: 4/5
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