Review of Selma (2014) by Kevin E — 08 Jun 2015

An adequate though uninspired depiction of the momentous events in Selma, Alabama in 1965. All films, even historical films, deserve some license to enhance the narrative. Ava DuVernay and Paul Webb have an odd relationship with the actual events in Selma and it detracts from the natural drama.

Notwithstanding the wholesale misrepresentation of LBJ, the film also toys with the timeline of the actual events. The fact that LBJ had publicly announced his intent to pass the Voting Rights Act before the actual march on Montgomery, or that a federal judge had also ordered Alabama to end it's literary tests before the march aren't depicted even remotely accurately in the film.

I'm bewildered as to why J. Edgar Hoover, whose intense animus for MLK led him to constantly torment Dr. King, is soft peddled as a mere loyal servant of the president. The reality is that Hoover was Kings primary foe and LBJ was very much a partner and ally in 1965 (they later fell out over MLK's anti-Vietnam stance).

It was unnecessary and odd to transfer Hoovers enmity to LBJ. The cast is fine. David Oyelowo is a talented actor but, not for a second do I feel like I'm watching Dr. King. The film was hamstrung by the fact that Dreamworks owns the rights to Kings actual speeches and they had to be paraphrased/re-created in Selma.

Oyelowo doesn't have Kings voice or cadence. Paul Webb has, frankly, done a poor job trying to replace the eloquence of Dr. Kings original words. MLK was famous primarily for his oratory. His speeches and delivery were transformative and without the powerful words and delivery, we are left with a very thin facsimile.

The film hardly compares to the great Jeffrey Wrights masterful portrayal of a younger MLK in Clark Johnson's fantastic TV movie "Boycott". Wright captured MLK with a mesmerizing performance and Johnson did a far better job humanizing the real life hero's of the civil rights movement.

Where "Selma" fails "Boycott" soars. I'm still waiting for someone to do justice to Dr. King on the big screen, until then check out "Boycott". Sadly "Selma" was adequate at best.