One of the hardest things to portray in a film based on actual events by both the director and the writer I think would be chronicling the the life of a person who would later come to be an icon for the abolition of some sort of adversity or restitution for a group of peoples or a lifestyle whilst still showing that the person who would become this impenetrable and forever sturdy symbol was still only a person with their own shortcomings and doubts who simply had total belief in what they were expressing. Ladies and gentlemen, I give you 'Selma'.
Story
The story of Selma picks up in Martin Luther King Jr.'s (David Oyelowo) campaign shortly after his iconic "I have a dream" speech as he continues to fight the oppression of black people in America through non violent protests. After hearing reports of hate crimes as well as black citizens being denied the right to vote in the town of Selma, Alabama and becoming outraged by the ignorance of the American government, Dr. King decides to take matters into by teeing up what was arguably the biggest action he took in his campaign, a march from Selma, Alabama to Washington D.C. If the government wasn't going to give the votes to the people he was going to bring the people to the government.
Writing/Directing
So far as writing goes this one is a bit of a mixed bag. There are some points in the script that are truly riveting and had me wanting to stand up and cheer but there were also some points where I almost felt like it had been written for a TV movie. Firstly the good, many of Dr. King's monologues in the film have so much passion and energy written into them which really comes out when they are read by the equally energetic David Oyelowo. On top of this many of his scenes in which people are confronted or disputes break out the writing is so innovative yet sharp that you are honestly harnessed by every syllable the characters utter. In these sorts of scenes Selma is a real treat and the fact that it got nominated for best picture is very evident. However, on the flip side of this there are some characters that get introduced in the movie, never main characters but at times more relevant than you'd first think from how passively they are written, who are written into the story quite nicely and their actions have great effect on the film and are very memorable, but sadly the same amount of work wasn't invested into the writing of these characters which leave you, the viewer, with a very vague and confused feeling towards them as you were never really invested in their character but the story asks you to be impacted by their actions which then makes you ask "Why?"
As for the directing in this film there is nothing really to complain about. It is a very competently directed movie with at times some very compelling imagery. My favourite scene in the movie is the scene shown in the poster wherein many black mean and women kneel down in a position of surrender whilst Dr. King stands up in front of them, symbolizing that he stands up for the people who cannot stand up for themselves. It is an effective image on the poster and it is equally effective in the film. The only gripe I had with the directing was that they occasionally used slow motion in order to really drive an image home and let it really sink in, which is effective. However they tended to linger on these shots for just a little too long so instead of thinking "Oh my stars, this is really intense." you lean more towards thinking "Okay. Whens the next shot going to come on...?"All-in-all however the directing was for the most part very effective in showing what it needed too.
Music
The music in this movie is very impacting and it fits the tone immaculately. The song 'Glory' by Common and John Legend alone is incredible and totally deserves its Oscar for best original song.
Acting
As I stated earlier, this sort of a story is very hard to tackle as Martin Luther King Jr. has since become an icon for the abolition of almost all racial oppression in America but the film has to show him for what he was, just a man and not a superhero. This is achieved superbly through David Oyelowo's depiction of Dr. King as a strong willed, very self-assured, brave and assertive man in the public eye who is equally scared and troubled behind closed doors fearful of the constant scrutiny his campaign gets and all the pain that comes upon fellow African-Americans who follow his leadership. Oyelowo fully inhabits the character right down to his slightest mannerisms.
The rest of the cast functionally inhabits their characters well enough to not detract from the story, although some characters feel very two dimensional at times which is more of a flaw to the writing than the actors however. At times some characters, particularly people who are victims of hate crimes, seem a bit too good to be true in how they talk and act. They were likely written like this to have a greater effect on the audience when they are eventually victimized but it instead came off as lazy writing and cookie cutter characters.
The Verdict
This review probably comes off as a little bit more cynical than my other reviews, but because I can appreciate how hard adapting the life of a person to the screen can be, especially a person as important to American history as Martin Luther King Jr. I am going to give it the benefit of the doubt a little bit on the basis that from a critical standpoint it does fall short here and there but as an overall story and when you consider what that march has done for history it is a truly remarkable film and definitely worth the price of admission.
8.4/10
