64/100

Got very worried early on, because DuVernay's handling of the Birmingham church bombing is atrocious—not only does she shoot the buildup to the explosion with various doomy portents (close-ups of little hands sliding down bannisters, etc.), she isolates one of the little girls on the stairs in a way that telegraphs what's about to happen, to the point where I actually said "And boom!" out loud about one second before the bomb went off. (Sadly, this obnoxious comment disturbed nobody, as I was alone in the theater. 10:15pm on a weekday, but still.) Subsequent use of slo-mo in violent scenes confirms that DuVernay has some hack-y instincts when it comes to tragedy, and I frankly saw nothing to suggest…

"We negotiate, we demonstrate, we resist."

A picture of unmistakable pertinency awakened through Ava DuVernay's utterly impassioned and textured artistry, anchored by David Oyelowo's defining portrayal of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., and immortalized with a narrative that echoes as powerfully today as it did over five decades ago.

Selma stands resolute and with arrant confidence. Aspects of historicity as they pertain to particular elements of the screenplay can be challenged—as they were upon the film's release—but that's undeniably the case for the majority of historical dramas and does very little to fade the genuine intentions and achievements of the cast and crew here. In fact, when contrasted with other features of relative concern that manage to reductively process complex…

Simultaneously quietly reverberating and viscerally horrific; Ava DuVernay's Selma is a fiery and subdued look at racial tensions in the mid-1960s. David Oyelowo as Martin Luther King Jr. silently stuns, portraying the historic man with vulnerability and a classical presence. Carmen Ejogo, playing King's wife, is just as vigorous and hushed, and their conversations are as powerfully intense as anything released in 2014.

The direction is quite good, with some bravura set-piece moments, and the cinematography is elegant in all the best ways. The rest however felt very familiar, and in many stretches, downright boring. Being a self-professed hater of biopics, mainly because of preachy politics, dreadful scores, and the overall sentimentalism of most productions; I can say that Selma…

May 25, 2020
George Floyd (46) allegedly tried to use a counterfeit $20 bill. Floyd was then handcuffed on the ground by the police officer. He then knelt on Floyd’s neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds - as Floyd pleaded with the officers saying “I Can’t Breathe.” The officer kept his knee on his neck until Floyd became unresponsive. 

“I have a dream that one day this nation will rise up and live out the true meaning of its creed: ‘We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal.’ -Martin Luther King Jr.

October 12, 2019
 Atatiana Jefferson (28) was killed by a police officer through the window of her home in the presence of…

Beautiful.

So, so utterly beautiful and heart-wrenching. I was so heart-hurt at several instances of this film that I had to pause it and take a minute. But then I felt the after-shock in knowing that this is a true-story.

To think these events occurred 50 years ago just goes to show how much has changed - and how much things haven't.

I know there was a lot of talk about snubs in this year's Oscar nominations (i.e. The Lego Movie, Nightcrawler, Gone Girl), but David Oyelowo missing out on Best Actor takes the cake. His portrayal as Martin Luther King was so realistically powerful and courageous at times I thought it was the real thing. Until today MLK seemed…

Keeping in view the current incidents surrounding the Ferguson protests which has once again escalated the racial tensions in the United States, the timing & arrival of Selma couldn’t have been more apt. Not because it brings any solution to the present unrest situation but brilliantly demonstrates just how far we still remain from an ideal society that treats everyone as equal, no matter what their race, colour or creed is.

Set in the titular city of Alabama state in 1965, the story of Selma concerns events surrounding the Voting Rights Movement carried out by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. & his organisation which ultimately led to the famous protest march from Selma to Montgomery as an exhibition of black American citizens’…

Thank God Almighty.

Director Ava Duvernay had a monumental task before her, making a high-profile motion picture focused on Dr. Martin Luther King Jr, with a cast of famous names. What’s more, the closer the film has come to release, the more the headlines have shown us just how much we need a Great Film about Dr. King’s vision.

Even great directors would probably have disappointed us. Think of Spielberg’s Lincoln: Hey, I loved it, but I acknowledge that it had weaknesses, just as his Schindler’s List did. Or think of far worse examples: Oliver Stone’s heavy-handed World Trade Center, for example. When movies speak as directly into current events as this one does, the movie is likely to sound…

The persistence of racial injustice, from police brutality to housing discrimination to voter suppression has nothing and everything to do with Selma, Ava DuVernay's provocative, stinging and moving look into Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s landmark 1965 voting-rights march from Selma, Alabama to the state capitol of Montgomery. Dr. King's fight, sadly, is still as timely as ever. You can feel the righteous fury coming off this film, the fervor to rise up and be counted.

And that's all to the good. DuVernay, working from a tightly focused and remarkable script by Paul Webb, makes history come to vivid life, beating heart and all. King, played by the magnificent British actor David Oyelowo, is faced with an extraordinary and harrowing…