SELMA

Everyone recognizes the image of Doctor Martin Luther King Jr. standing in front of the Lincoln Memorial, delivering the legacy defining “I Have A Dream” speech or the photos of him standing at the front of a church delivering a sermon. History has given us an almost god-like figure in the way that he is spoken of in schools and countless other memorials in his dedication.

The greatest accomplishment of Ava Duvernay’s powerful film Selma is not its triumphant acting, cinematography or heart felt score – but the “deconstruction” of the saint-like image of Dr. King. What makes him like you or I? The answer has been right in front of us all along. He was a man. And just like any other man, he felt fear, anxiety, and great passion for assembling what eventually became the Selma Marches.

David Oyelowo delivers the performance of his career as Martin Luther King, already having received the Nobel Peace Prize, yet coming back to a racially divided Southern America shows his work is far from over. Duvernay often times places Oyelowo right in the center of the frame, drawing the eye straight to him, whether it be from directly above looking down at his head or from the point of view of people sitting in church pews.

The film’s strong suit is it’s cast. Selma has the best ensemble performance from any movie made in the last year. Tom Wilkinson paints President Lyndon Johnson not as a hero or as a villain, but as a man caught in the middle of a great struggle who is trying to be a good diplomat for what he believes to be the US Government’s best interests. Tim Roth’s take on Alabama Governor George Wallace is slimy and every bit unlikable as he came across in reality.

The daily struggle that comes with Dr. King’s work takes its toll on his marriage with Coretta (played by Carmen Ejogo), showing us a side of the man, not often discussed publicly. Paul Webb’s script does an incredible job of publicly showing us a man, who was as strong as a rock, but would turn right around and take frantic action as people coming from all over the country to participate in the Selma protests were targeted by attackers of the opposing side.


Without a doubt, this year’s Academy Award nominations were full of surprises, but Selma’s overall lack of presence among the nominees is downright shocking. Its serious subject matter begins to feel like “too much” for a film with little to no comedy by its third act. It is possible for a script to be too rich in its subject matter and as the film draws to a close, it shows. Perhaps the most important film made this side of the year 2010, Selma looks past the glorified images of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and examines what makes him like you and I: his humanity and the triumph, pain and passion that came with it.
10/10