By LINDSEY SCHIBELHUT, Staff Reporter.
It has been 50 years since the Selma to Montgomery, Ala. marches which occurred March 7 through March 25, 1965, leading to the passing of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. In commemoration of these iconic events, the movie “Selma,” directed by Ava DuVernay, was born.
Virtually unknown british actor, David Oyelowo, steps into the shoes of Martin Luther King, Jr. and does a tremendous job of bringing him to life. Actress Carmen Ejogo, plays Coretta Scott King, while Tom Wilkinson plays President Lyndon B. Johnson.
Audiences should not go into the movie expecting to hear the amazing, passionate speeches Martin Luther King, Jr. was known for. The film instead showcases him in a more vulnerable light, one not normally seen. What is portrayed is King’s inner struggle, not only with his family life, but with the marches and whether what he was doing was really the right thing.
The film starts out with King getting ready before he is to accept the Nobel Peace prize in 1964. He asks his wife Coretta multiple times if what he is wearing looks right, because to him it doesn’t “feel right.” He is apprehensive about wearing a certain piece of clothing because he doesn’t want people who knew him to think of him differently, like he is “living too high on the hog.” This moment emphasizes just how much detail King paid attention to when it came to his public image. He didn’t want something as minute as a piece of clothing to distract the media from his political goals.
The cinematography for the film was beautifully shot, which lead to some gut wrenching scenes throughout the movie. One of those beginning scenes was the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, Ala. in 1963 in which four young girls were murdered. Another portion of the film portrayed the police brutality which occurred on the Edmund Pettus Bridge March 7, 1965. Police officers assaulted the peaceful protesters who gathered that day for one of the Selma to Montgomery marches, hitting them with billy clubs, and showering them with tear gas, shocking the nation when it was televised live for all to see.
A controversial area in the movie, however, is the depiction of the relationship between Martin Luther King, Jr. and former President Lyndon B. Johnson (Tom Wilkinson). The film depicts Johnson’s interactions with King as more of an adversary against the passing of the Voting Rights legislation than an ally, which historians insist he was. In this respect some “creative license” may have been taken by the writers of the film, so viewers should be aware, historically speaking.
One interesting part of the movie is it’s connection to Michigan. One of the activists who was portrayed in the film, Viola Liuzzo (Charity Jordan), came to the Selma to Montgomery march after seeing news coverage of the police brutality on the Edmund Pettus bridge. Liuzzo left her husband and five children to travel from Detroit to Selma for the protest. Her story is heartbreaking because after she had dropped fellow protesters off at the Montgomery airport, she was gunned down by the Ku Klux Klan, at only 39 years of age.
All in all, “Selma” is a great movie to go see, not only because of the Selma marches significance in history, but also because of Martin Luther King day in the month of January. The movie showcases the triumph of all people (regardless of race) that instead of fighting each other, they came together with a common goal, to fight the onslaught of oppression. At the end “Selma” will have you standing with Dr. King saying “How long? Not long!…Glory Hallelujah! Glory Hallelujah! His truth is marching on! His truth is marching on!”
