Affecting movie with a strong focus on strategy

Rating: 8/10 (15 June 2020)

This drama about MLK and the fight for voting rights in the south is notable for a few things. One is how well it establishes the stakes. Violence is a small part of the film but every violent moment is a gut punch that tells you how real and often indiscriminate the danger was. The forces of darkness gave no quarter.
It also gets into the strategy. This is less MLK the inspirational leader than it is Martin the strategist. His strategy includes putting people in danger and playing hardball, and at times he shrinks from the necessity of what must be done, but you see how effective that strategy is. (Oddly the movie doesn't explain the strategy of a certain retreat, although I found an explanation online).
While movies of real events often try and shrink participants into one or two, Selma isn't afraid to show how many people were a part of the movement. Many characters don't have much to do, but they're all in there, giving you a sense of a movement that's more than just one great man.
At the same time, David Oyelowo is good at the thoughtful part of MLK but falls short on the charisma, failing to capture that preacher cadence and that soaring rhetoric. I appreciate the egalitarian view, but still, MLK was often electric and Oyelowo just doesn't have that electricity.
Overall, this is an engrossing movie that offers a lot of historical information yet never falls into the educational-film trap of movie's like "Lincoln." It is effective both as history and drama. I recommend it for both.