Selma
After a stressful but ultimately successful exam day, I took a long overdue trip to Peckham Plex (which basically looks like a cinema that the characters of Saved By The Bell would attend) to see Selma. The film's title refers to Selma, Alabama, the town in which Martin Luther King Jr and the supporters of the civil rights movement organised a march to Montgomery to highlight the continued disenfranchisement of black Americans in 1965.
It's a flawed but important film. Selma excels at demonstrating the sheer level of brutality towards the black population by the white southern establishment, first with a truly shocking depiction of the 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing, then with the murder of Jimmy Lee Jackson and finally with the breakup of the first attempted march, broadcast live on TV.
David Oyelowo's nuanced performance as Dr King is truly impressive. What he lacks in physical resemblance is more than compensated for vocally and he shines when replicating King's oratory style and unique cadence. It's not a warts and all portrayal of King (though his infidelities are briefly touched upon in a scene that feels rather incongruous), but it doesn't need to be.
A number of critics have touched upon historical inaccuracies, particularly surrounding King's relationship with President Johnson who seems reluctant to put the issue of suffrage on his administration's agenda. Eventually, a credulity stretching exchange with George Wallace, the governor of Alabama, where Johnson fears the judgement of history, results in him recommending legislation to Congress to prevent the illegal suppression of the black vote. It all feels a little too neat and certain scenes involving LBJ push the action into "TV movie" territory, not least some very clunky exposition at times.
Events in the United States over the past couple of years such as the shootings of Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown give Selma an additional sense of resonance. It's a timely reminder of where we've come and how far there is still to go in the field of race relations.
It's a flawed but important film. Selma excels at demonstrating the sheer level of brutality towards the black population by the white southern establishment, first with a truly shocking depiction of the 16th Street Baptist Church Bombing, then with the murder of Jimmy Lee Jackson and finally with the breakup of the first attempted march, broadcast live on TV.
David Oyelowo's nuanced performance as Dr King is truly impressive. What he lacks in physical resemblance is more than compensated for vocally and he shines when replicating King's oratory style and unique cadence. It's not a warts and all portrayal of King (though his infidelities are briefly touched upon in a scene that feels rather incongruous), but it doesn't need to be.
A number of critics have touched upon historical inaccuracies, particularly surrounding King's relationship with President Johnson who seems reluctant to put the issue of suffrage on his administration's agenda. Eventually, a credulity stretching exchange with George Wallace, the governor of Alabama, where Johnson fears the judgement of history, results in him recommending legislation to Congress to prevent the illegal suppression of the black vote. It all feels a little too neat and certain scenes involving LBJ push the action into "TV movie" territory, not least some very clunky exposition at times.
Events in the United States over the past couple of years such as the shootings of Trayvon Martin and Michael Brown give Selma an additional sense of resonance. It's a timely reminder of where we've come and how far there is still to go in the field of race relations.
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