Review of Selma (2014) by Jack D — 22 Feb 2015

A solid reenactment of - obviously - actual events with amazing performances, cinematography, atmosphere and exemplary filmmaking in general, Selma is something that, basically, will never be captured by the awkward re-enactments and biopics that litter the History Channel and Lifetime. And while it is yet another award-bait, biopic entry for 2014/2015, screenwriter Paul Webb chose to go with a specific time period in Martin Luther King, Jr.'s life rather than one which constantly flashed back to his previous years, and despite being a long shot, Selma's success is attributed to this refined focus on just one of the many crucial moments of MLK's life, rather than splitting the movie up to focus on different parts of the latter's life, which was what the likes of The Imitation Game (2014), Unbroken (2014), and American Sniper (2014) had excruciatingly done.

Selma's narrative is simple enough to understand; it's a civil rights march for equal voting rights in a time when equal rights was something that was spoken with apprehension, vitriol, ignorance and downright contempt in the southern parts of the United States of America; which, ironically, still is spoken as such. Drawing heavy inspiration from Gandhi's strategy of civil disobedience - though Selma omits explicitly mentioning it -, Martin Luther King rallies his 'forces' to march from Selma to Montgomery in a show of non-violent defiance to demand the removal of voting restrictions, the bureaucratic struggle that he faces with President Lyndon B. Johnson (Tom Wilkinson) and the 'forces' of Alabama are laid bare for all to see.

A complete transformation of sorts, David Oyelowo drops his more recognizable appearance from what was seen in the likes of A Most Violent Year (2014), steps out of the shoes of a supporting actor and into the larger, leading actor shoes to take on the immense role of Martin Luther King, Jr., as he delivers a powerful and nuanced performance as the late leader of the African-American Civil Rights Movements known for his fire and brimstone speeches, while flanked by his many and just as talented co-stars such as Carmen Ejogo, as Coretta Scott King, and Tim Roth as the primordial laughing stock of Alabama, George Wallace.

Director Ava DuVernay holds nothing back, going so far as to capture the tense and gritty stare-downs, violence and verbal sparring, as she impeccably keeps the movie moving at an exponential rate which fed on depth and flavor of its own scenes from Webb's screenplay. Selma doesn't exclude the toll that MLK's pursuit for equality has on both his convictions and the increasingly strained relationship that he shares with his wife, Coretta - played just as excellently by Carmen Ejogo -, and family, which also serves to humanize the iconic civil rights activist by painting him as a man who is as vulnerable as anyone else.