Selma (12A.)
Directed Ava DuVernay.
Starring David Oyelovo, Carmen Ejogo, Andre Holland, Tom Wilkinson, Giovanni Ribisi, Tim Roth and Oprah Winfrey. 128 mins.
Hearing that this is a film about Martin Luther King, detailing the time between his being awarded the Nobel Peace prize in October 1964 to the march from Selma to Montgomery in March '65, the instinctive reaction may be to roll your eyes to the sky and dismiss it as another Oscar Movie and give it a miss. Selma though is genuinely impressive: it is exactly what an Oscar movie Should be, rather than what an Oscar movie usually is. That it has been largely snubbed by the Academy is a rather fine irony.
What makes it special is that it explores the Civil Rights movement as a political campaign as much as a moral crusade. Of course it isn't hard to move audiences with noble scenes of black protestors getting battered to death by piggy eyed rednecks; mowed down by police officers or Oprah Winfrey's sad face as her attempts to register to vote is rejected again, but it is more rewarding surely to see this within the context of all the machinations, calculations and scheming behind it. So we get to see King going back and forth with President Johnson, the two battling to set the agenda; as well as King struggling to ensure his own side follow him. The film is honest enough to show that an integral aspect of King's campaign of non-violence, was effectively coaxing supporters into martyrdom.
One problem I have with the film is the excess of Brits in it. Now Oyelowo is a mesmerising MLK and Kensington born Carmen Ejogo is very convincing as his wife, but I really can't see why Wilkinson and Roth were cast as LBJ and Governor George Wallace. These are two people that played an awkward but integral part in an uncomfortable period of American history, one that must be hard to relive for all concerned. If I were an American I think having them voiced in the uncertain American accents of two Limeys, would grate in the way Streep playing Mrs Thatcher did with me. These are scars a little painful to be dealt with by outsiders – how would you react to George Clooney performing the secret passion of Enoch Powell? Wilkinson and Roth are fine actors but neither convince here; Wilkinson is over six foot but doesn't suggest the physical or political presence of Johnson.
Selma is an intelligent, thoughtful and poignant film. Not to the extent it can persuade me not to instinctively always say the title in a Fred Flintstone voice, but enough for it deserve to be considered as something more than a lame duck Oscar pleader.
Selma (12A.)
Directed Ava DuVernay.
Starring David Oyelovo, Carmen Ejogo, Andre Holland, Tom Wilkinson, Giovanni Ribisi, Tim Roth and Oprah Winfrey. 128 mins.
Hearing that this is a film about Martin Luther King, detailing the time between his being awarded the Nobel Peace prize in October 1964 to the march from Selma to Montgomery in March '65, the instinctive reaction may be to roll your eyes to the sky and dismiss it as another Oscar Movie and give it a miss. Selma though is genuinely impressive: it is exactly what an Oscar movie Should be, rather than what an Oscar movie usually is. That it has been largely snubbed by the Academy is a rather fine irony.
What makes it special is that it explores the Civil Rights movement as a political campaign as much as a moral crusade. Of course it isn't hard to move audiences with noble scenes of black protestors getting battered to death by piggy eyed rednecks; mowed down by police officers or Oprah Winfrey's sad face as her attempts to register to vote is rejected again, but it is more rewarding surely to see this within the context of all the machinations, calculations and scheming behind it. So we get to see King going back and forth with President Johnson, the two battling to set the agenda; as well as King struggling to ensure his own side follow him. The film is honest enough to show that an integral aspect of King's campaign of non-violence, was effectively coaxing supporters into martyrdom.
One problem I have with the film is the excess of Brits in it. Now Oyelowo is a mesmerising MLK and Kensington born Carmen Ejogo is very convincing as his wife, but I really can't see why Wilkinson and Roth were cast as LBJ and Governor George Wallace. These are two people that played an awkward but integral part in an uncomfortable period of American history, one that must be hard to relive for all concerned. If I were an American I think having them voiced in the uncertain American accents of two Limeys, would grate in the way Streep playing Mrs Thatcher did with me. These are scars a little painful to be dealt with by outsiders – how would you react to George Clooney performing the secret passion of Enoch Powell? Wilkinson and Roth are fine actors but neither convince here; Wilkinson is over six foot but doesn't suggest the physical or political presence of Johnson.
Selma is an intelligent, thoughtful and poignant film. Not to the extent it can persuade me not to instinctively always say the title in a Fred Flintstone voice, but enough for it deserve to be considered as something more than a lame duck Oscar pleader.
