Is the True Lesson of Selma Lost?

Rating: 7/10 (27 January 2015)

The movie Selma, directed by Ava DuVernay is a beautifully realized reminder of the struggle for black voting rights half a century ago. Casting was so perfect that viewers who know the real-life characters can easily identify Andy Young (André Holland), John Lewis (Stephan James), and other era heroes. (As a Detroit native, I'm glad to see the movie remembered murdered Viola Liuzzo.) Some commenters have quibbled with the movie's historical accuracy—especially the portrayal of President Lyndon Johnson—but it isn't a documentary, after all, and the presentation is probably more accurate than not. In a personal conversation, a White House insider at the time told me he heard Johnson said to King, "You have to force me to do what I want to do." The political risks were too great (and chances of success too small) for Johnson to act unilaterally on voting rights, but if the pressure and public outrage became strong enough—as they did become after Bloody Sunday—he would act and did.
David Oyelowo is inspiring as Rev. Martin Luther King—thoughtful but fiery when he needed to be, and he has King's oratorical cadences down perfectly. Tom Wilkinson is always good, but I missed Lyndon's Texas accent. Oprah, awesome. And Wendell Pierce could just stand anywhere, and I'd be with him a hundred percent. The whole cast, sincere and convincing.
My biggest frustration about the movie is the reaction to it. I hope leaders (black and white) use the triumphal feeling it engenders to remind people how important the courage and sacrifices of the Movement were. (And those of the Suffragettes before them.) But what's happening now? People—black and white, men and women—don't even bother to use their vote. They may vote for President every four years, but the person at the pinnacle has a lot less influence over our daily lives than the people in the state house, the mayor's office, the township committee, the local school board. Good or bad, those people get picked in the primary elections which have even lower voter turnout, except among extremists. When people don't vote in primaries, every extremist's vote counts more. Meanwhile, Johnson's big contribution--the Voting Rights Act--is being chipped away at in state legislatures. Perhaps the movie will be an educational and motivational tool, so that effective campaigns can be mounted against new voting restrictions and so that all Americans recognize that there's no point in feeling good about this pivotal struggle of 50 years ago if we let it lapse into meaninglessness through apathy today. As the movie so strongly suggests, Rev. King would consider this heartbreaking.