Selma (5/4/15)

Rated PG-13 for disturbing thematic material including violence, a suggestive moment, and brief strong language.

Starring David Oyelowo, Oprah Winfrey, Tim Roth, Carmen Ejogo, Tom Wilkinson, Cuba Gooding Jr., Common and Giovanni Ribisi

Directed by Ava DuVernay

Let’s all agree that it was a monumental task for Ava Duvernay to direct a film about Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.… and I for one am glad she accepted that challenge.

Selma is the story of a movement. The film chronicles the tumultuous three-month period in 1965, when Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. led a dangerous campaign to secure equal voting rights in the face of violent opposition. The epic march from Selma to Montgomery culminated in President Johnson (Tom Wilkinson) signing the Voting Rights Act of 1965, one of the most significant victories for the civil rights movement. Director Ava DuVernay’s Selma tells the real story of how the revered leader and visionary Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (David Oyelowo) and his brothers and sisters in the movement prompted change that forever altered history.

We’ve all seen biopics of political heavyweights, but more often than not, those films represent one side of a partisan debate or they tend to represent “special interests” of the person. Not this film.

Selma is masterfully crafted and accurately tells the story Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

By choosing not to make an “epic film,” Duvernay decides instead to tell the story in a more intimate style. The film portrays Dr. King as a complex, flawed, human character while never shying away from his deep faith and convictions.

David Oyewolo seems born to play this role. He plays King with humor and heart. We see the good – his deep conscience and courage and the bad – his doubts and infidelities. But that is how you tell a great story…tell the whole story.

To say the rest of the cast including Oprah Winfrey, Tim Roth, Carmen Ejogo, Tom Wilkinson, Cuba Gooding, Jr., Common and Giovanni Ribisi is just as strong would be a massive understatement.

Selma is, quite simply, everything you could have hoped for in a film about Dr. King. It is beautiful, horrifying, inspiring, perfectly cast and powerfully acted. The cinematography is amazing and the score is moving and powerful. I loved it. It is “Worth Buying.”

SHOULD KIDS SEE IT?
Although there is no sex or nudity shown, we do hear an audio recording of a man and woman having sex that is played from a telephone in one scene.

The violence is rough and very brutal for a PG-13 film. We see people being brutally mistreated, stomped, kicked, whipped, beaten with police batons, exposed to tear gas, and even murdered. Faces brutally swelled up, crying in pain, bleeding, etc.

There are two uses of the F-word, the N-word and other racial slurs are used repeatedly.

CONVERSATION STARTER:

1. What are some qualities of Dr. King that you admire most?


2. Edmund Burke said, “The only thing necessary for the triumph of evil is for good men to do nothing.” How did Dr. King prevent the triumph of evil?


3. What are some things we can learn from him and his conviction to do the right thing?

Read Matthew 5:16

In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.


4. How can you, like Dr. King, let your light shine before others?