Selma (2014)

It seems that Selma is the movie to talk about at the moment. There are countless controversies surrounding the film. Its Oscar “snubs” (although it is in for best picture), its historical accuracy, its portrayal of certain figures and general showing of racially motivated hatred all have caused somewhat of a media frenzy on top of the rave reviews it is receiving from critics. I think these controversies are mostly pointless as the movie speaks for itself and is just as historically accurate as 99% of other movies of its kind (to my knowledge). So how does Selma hold up as a movie? Well, when I watch movies I like to watch them as their own independently functioning entities as often as I can so I went into Selma hoping to watch an emotionally powerful historical drama that somehow stands out as unique in such a highly saturated genre. For the most part Selma satisfied. Selma is, indeed, an extremely emotional movie that tells an important story in moderately impressive style.

It should be said that this movie isn't a biopic about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Really it's just a glimpse at one of the many important civil rights movements he was a part of during his life. Set in 1964, Selma is the story about how Dr. King took the civil rights movement to a small town in Alabama where it is widely known that African-Americans were often not allowed to register to vote despite it being illegal to bar anybody from voting The picture is a weave of political agendas, personal issues and relationships that the individuals are juggling and ultimately tells the story about how Dr. King was able to organize an epic march from Selma, Alabama to Montgomery, Alabama in order to protest the injustice being served to an entire race in certain parts of the country. Selma starts off slowly but comes together nicely by the end. While the central focus is on Dr. King, Selma manages to bring in a large number of characters who have important segments in the movie. There were a few scenes (particularly in the middle of the film) that I found extremely emotional to the point I wished I could pause the movie and walk away for a bit. Selma definitely nails the pathos but unfortunately I wished it had moved along a bit more briskly as well as wrapped up the story more efficiently. Not that I found this movie to be overly boring, but in the last act I knew exactly where things were going and it would have been much more effective if it would have made its point more swiftly.

I can see how some people are upset that David Oyelowo was not nominated for an Oscar for best actor in a leading role. It has nothing to do with race that people are upset but rather that he gives an astonishing performance that is easily one of the best of the year. Oyelowo completely realizes Dr. King but also humanizes the character in a down-to-earth way. It's easy to forget that larger-than-life figures such as Dr. King were human beings but Oyelowo's performance reminds us of that. It's an incredible performance and is up there with Daniel Day-Lewis' portrayal of Lincoln in terms of quality. Tom Wilkinson plays LBJ and does a nice job and Tim Roth plays Alabama governor George Wallace in unabashedly villainous fashion. I could go on forever as the list of supporting actors is actually quite enormous. Like the best historical dramas not a single one of them gives a bad or off-putting performance. The performances in Selma are the emotional core of the movie and they really make the somewhat drawn out moments feel shorter.

Selma is also a fairly attractive movie to watch. All of the costumes and settings are done as perfectly as I understand that they can be (I'm not a historian so any inaccuracies are beyond me). I love when movies like this can fully transport you to the time and place they are set in and thanks to solid production design Selma is no exception. I don't think any of the camera work or other technical elements are mind-blowing or unique but as I mentioned in my review of The Imitation Game, do they really need to be in this type of movie? Maybe Selma is somewhat formulaic in its structure and visual style but the focus here is on the characters and historical events. Also the song “Glory” that accompanies the end credits is worth sticking around for. It is a brilliant musical track.

The controversies surrounding Selma aren't hard to understand but they certainly aren't unique to movies of this nature (that is to say, movies that deal with racial issues). Whether or not Selma is completely accurate or not is besides the point in my opinion (and I haven't done enough research to know exactly how much of this is true). What this movie is trying to do is get the heart and soul of the event across to its audience. This was a time period where African-Americans were denied many of their basic rights as human beings in the United States and thanks to the actions of Dr. King and his supporters they were able to improve the issue dramatically. Selma is about the path to that positive outcome. If you want to draw comparisons between the events in this movie and things that are happening in the world in 2015, that is completely up to you. I wouldn't hold such comparisons against the movie itself and its message, however. Selma most definitely does not have a malicious or manipulative modern political agenda. It's a time capsule and is mostly successful in telling its tale.

Seeing Selma was high on my to-do list at the beginning of the year. I was excited to see it for quite some time and the constant discussion about the film in the media had me even more excited to see it. Overall I think this is a great movie that is successful mostly because of its inherent good-nature and phenomenal performances. Unfortunately there were moments during the beginning of the movie where I was hoping it would pick up and moments near the end where I was hoping it could get its point across a bit more briskly. All somewhat inconsequential criticisms aside, Selma is a very good movie. I can see why many people have called it one of the years best as it contains some of the most emotional sequences in any movie I've seen all year. While I didn't quite love Selma as much as some other people, it is a largely satisfying movie experience that is probably going to be very popular in the future.

8/10