An Important Movie About Important Events

Rating: 7/10 (14 May 2017)

David Oyelowo was brilliant as civil rights leader Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. That's a difficult role to play, because King is such an iconic figure to many, and especially because he is essentially a martyr for the cause, having been assassinated a couple of years after the events depicted in this film. But if Oyelowo was even remotely overwhelmed by playing King, he didn't show it. Instead, he captured King. His voice, his mannerisms, his passion. It was truly impressive - the best part of a movie that was generally very good, but at times a bit slow moving.
But more than just featuring a great performance (Oyelowo should have been nominated for an Oscar, I might add) it's an important movie. In fact it's a sobering movie, because it's largely so accurate. It's sobering for me to realize that these events happened in my lifetime. This wasn't the distant past - this was the south of just 50 years ago where racism was a way of life and keeping blacks poor and disenfranchised - through the use of state sanctioned violence if necessary - was accepted political policy. The movie revolves around the struggle for black voting rights in Alabama. In theory, blacks had the right to vote, but in practice various methods were found to prevent them from registering. King and his associates take on the cause and try to organize a march from Selma to the state capital of Montgomery demanding voting rights for blacks - the first attempt at the march descending into sickening violence against the marchers by the authorities.
In the course of showing the march being organized, there are a lot of points made. The political machinations are revealed and believable. Alabama Governor George Wallace was played by Tim Roth, and President Lyndon Johnson by Tom Wilkinson. Personally, I found Wilkinson difficult to accept as LBJ. To me he just didn't seem right in the part - but the movie makes the point that Johnson had to be pushed to propose the Voting Rights Act of 1965, when he would have preferred to do something less dramatic. The movie also isn't shy about hiding some of the divisions within the leadership of the civil rights movement itself. The movie also notes the prominent place of faith in the civil rights movement.
It has a powerful beginning and ending - the beginning portraying the murder of four young black girls in the bombing of a church, and the movie closes with a gripping piece of music. I often don't bother with the closing credits of a movie, but I left them on to hear the song because I found it so moving.
There were a few parts of this movie that failed to really capture me, and it did seem a little bit inconsistently paced. But it's an important movie portraying important events - and still quite relevant, given many of the concerns today about voter suppression laws which seem aimed largely at blacks, and recent incidents of police violence toward the African American community. (7/10)