Basic Film Information
- Release Date: January 9th, 2015
- Director: Ava Duvernay
- Writer: Paul Webb
- Actors: David Oyelowo, Tim Roth, Carmen Ejogo
Synopsis
The unforgettable true story chronicles the tumultuous three-month period in 1965, when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. led a dangerous campaign to secure equal voting rights in the face of violent opposition. The epic march from Selma to Montgomery culminated in President Johnson signing the Voting Rights Act of 1965, one of the most significant victories for the civil rights movement. Director Ava DuVernay’s “Selma” tells the story of how the revered leader and visionary Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr and his brothers and sisters in the movement prompted change that forever altered history.
Contemporary Reviews
- Jason Bailey said, “The timeliness of the picture, coupled with the immediacy of the filmmaking, renders ‘Selma’ more powerful than even its skilled creators could’ve possibly intended.”
- Rene Rodriguez said “Like Dr. King did, the film captures your mind and your heart as it entertains, the way great movies often do.”
Background and Interesting Facts (IMDb)
- Although she receives no screen writing credit, Ava DuVernay claimed to have done a 90% rewrite of Paul Webb’s original script, including writing all of King’s speeches.
- There is still debate about whether Martin Luther King Jr. was right- or left-handed.
- When Coretta Scott King interrogates Martin Luther King about his infidelities, Ava DuVernay purposely had David Oyelowo give a long, uncomfortable pause before answering any questions.
Critical Analysis
In Selma we are presented with the influential Martin Luther King Jr. and his quest to make it possible for African Americans to register to vote. It is a huge issue in the film to overcome in Alabama because they are resisted every step of the way and multiple people die in the film. We see the turmoil that Dr. King goes through as he is challenged in his personal life while he is trying to do all he can to overcome voter inequality. The film focuses in Selma because it is where the heart of the issue was and created a big impact in such a small area.
This film becomes even more relevant because of the issues that the United States is currently going through. With all of the problems that we have with race, it becomes all the more relevant to today’s society. The United States has been going through its fair share of problems with overcoming adversity, inspiring groups such as Black Lives Matter, and it is something that history can show was a problem in the past as well. Regardless of individuals’ stances on BLM, it is clear what they stand for and it demonstrates another time in society where a group of people are not happy with the current situation and want change, we see how important it is to look back into history.
The issues and themes represented in this film are still relevant to this day which demonstrates the film’s staying power by being able to touch on universal topics that can be related to time and time again. Unfortunately, politicians being dishonest has been a regular part of American Politics for a while and the film uses extreme examples in order to highlight this fact but it gets the point across. Critics have evaluated this film with words like “overstuffed” but the amount of information placed into the film is useful in order for individuals to fully comprehend the message (rottentomatoes.com). Furthermore, it relates to how overstuffed and overloaded the information about politics are in general. It can be difficult for the average American to learn about what is really going on in the country’s politics when there is so much happening at once. In some ways the government uses that to their advantage, just like in the film, because they want certain things to fly under the radar without people realizing it.
Bibliography
“Selma.” IMDb. IMDb.com, n.d. Web. 05 Dec. 2016.
Webb, Paul. “Selma.” Selma (2015) – Rotten Tomatoes. N.p., 2016. Web. 01 Dec. 2016.