Selma

Rating: 8/10 (19 January 2015)

It seems a film like Selma, could not come out at a more appropriate time than now. I am sure that everyone who reads this review and has paid attention to the news this past year, whether in print, online, or on television will be familiar with all the murders that have been going on and labelled as racially motivated. These stories (and there were quite a few of them), dominated the news headlines because of the uncertainty and ambiguousness of the killings as well as inciting people to create riots and marches and in some ways showing that even after all these years with the march in Selma, Alabama as well as the work that Martin Luther King, and others have done, will perhaps still not fully be realized, or come to the dream ending that they were originally hoping for. Were all these recent events across America, based solely on racism? I am no expert in criminology, or anything like that, but it certainly makes one take notice and consider such options for a moment. The film is an interesting testament to the racial times during the mid 1960's and the battle for integration and segregation no longer as well as the right to vote for all African Americans. The thing about this film coming out as timely and at such a time as this, is that it shows that in some ways we have accomplished a lot, but in other ways not so much. The message and the theme behind Selma, is certainly an interesting one and it is a very well made film, but I just wished I liked the film better than I did. While, I still enjoyed it and found a lot to admire about it, I did not find it a perfect film, or a masterpiece. I find it quite hard to actually pinpoint the negatives about this film because I really did not have too many problems with it and it was a well made film, both on the sides of work in front of and behind the camera. I liked how the film was more of an independent production and that everything in the film was more low key, subtle and gave a more authentic feeling and look to the events. As with any Hollywood film dealing with real people and subject matter, I often feel that the smaller you go in scope, sometimes the better your film will turn out. If this had been a film made for a lot of money with a lot of big names and actors in it as well as a lot of pomp and expenses poured into making it a big, huge, epic film, than I think the simple yet subtle tone the director went for, would have been destroyed and I don't think the film would have come out as well, or had as lasting an impact. The film is also a little slower in it's pace with no major action sequences, or anything like that, but instead thoughtful scenes involving dialogue and good acting and emotions to further emphasize everything that Martin Luther King, was trying to achieve and the various setbacks and racial overtones that were preventing him from achieving his dream. While the film was very interesting, well acted, written and directed, I did not feel I could connect with it on an emotional level like I was hoping for. At the same time, I did not wish for the film to be overly dramatic, or even melodramatic in either it's acting, tone, or music. That would have felt forced and ruined the film for me completely. I was also glad it did not go the route of Lee Daniels' The Butler, which could have been a really good film, had it avoided all political bias and manipulation that I felt completely ruined the film. Fortunately, Selma is not like that. Back to connecting on an emotional level, I just felt that often times the film and the characters and people in it, often felt distant to me and I could not connect, or emphasize with them as much as I wanted to. Yes, I certainly got the feeling that everything that was going on back then with the racial attitudes as well as some of the violence that erupted from it was terrible, but I often felt that Selma, looked at and addressed such issues at a distance and at times I found the film to be not quite delving deep enough into the character study, or the feelings and emotions that were happening to these people. The film certainly is not a bad film and I am still giving it quite a good rating, but it was one of those films that didn't affect me the way I wanted it to. Take 2013's 12 Years a Slave for example. That was an excellent film dealing with slavery and racial attitudes at a different time period, but it still felt just as relevant today and while the film was very brutal and sometimes hard to watch in it's depiction of such brutality and horror, I felt that it hit me hard on an emotional level and really made for an unforgettable movie experience. I could connect to that film and felt more of an impact with it and unfortunately, I could not say the same for Selma. Selma, did not need to resort to brutality to get my attention, but I just wished that it did not seem as stark, cold, or distant with the characters, or subject matter at hand and I think I would have enjoyed it even more if I could have connected to it in the same way as 12 Years a Slave.