Director: Ava DuVernay
Starring: David Oyelowo, Carmen Ejogo, Tom Wilkinson, Oprah Winfrey, Giovanni Ribisi, Tim Roth, Andre Holland, Tessa Thompson, Common, Dylan Baker, Michael Sheen, Nigel Thatch, Cuba Gooding Jr
The biographical drama Selma was proclaimed as the great snub of the awards season. While it was a big hit at the Golden Globes (Best Drama, Best Director, Best Actor) the Oscars only awarded it Best Song and a Best Picture nomination. This triggered some political unease due to the predominantly white male Academy vetoing a rare African American female candidate for Best Director. We’ll be reviewing the film’s status of the one that the Oscar’s forgot too easily.
Alabama, 1964. Martin Luther King (Oyelowo) has successfully campaigned for the right for African Americans to vote in but in practice they are still prevented from registering by discriminating white registrars. When President Lyndon B Johnson (Wilkinson) rejects King’s new campaign, he rallies the Southern Christian Leadership Conference and the residents of Alabama to a demonstrative march from Selma to the neighbouring town of Montgomery.
Its hard to overlook a film that’s defined by one of the most unforgettable film performances in recent memory. The Brit David Oyelowo (best known for supporting roles in Interstellar and A Most Violent Year) is only just showcasing one of his first major leading roles. It’s a bold and charismatic piece to watch and in the rousing speech scenes the words authentically roll of his tongue in a convincing southern drawl.
There’s some equally impressive work from the supporting cast Fellow Brit Carmen Ejogo impresses as King’s put upon wife Coretta. The Butler/The Colour Purple star Oprah Winfrey too gives a very understated performance as activist Annie Lee Cooper, in only her second live action role since the 1990s. Andre Holland, Tessa Thompson and off screen rapper Common also fill up the cast of the Civil Rights movement and the star cameos of Giovanni Ribisi, Cuba Gooding Jr and Martin Sheen add some class to the procedings.
Some of the standout supporting performances come from the likes of Tom Wilkinson as the condescending President Johnson and Tim Roth as the scheming Alabama governor George Wallace but the one issue of writers DuVernay and Paul Webb’s work is that the white politicians come across slightly as caricatures but besides that the duo have done some excellent work.
By homing in the narrative to just one campaign of the many in King’s life it’s far less loosely paced and unfocused than the likes of The Imitation Game, Mandela: Long Walk to Freedom or The Theory of Everything. Like Steven Spielberg’s Lincoln, it approaches one story with depth of character as oppose to a whole lifetime. Most importantly the dialogue sizzles, particularly in the speech sequences in which DuVernay has had to recraft every line and yet still keep a convincing MLK tone.
DuVernay’s brilliant directorial eye really comes to life in the terrifying depiction of the police and public brutality of the time with the savage assaults and beatings of both the aforementioned parties. Overall, given recent events in Ferguson and across America, this is probably the most timely film in the Oscars race. Issues of egotism (Birdman), whimsy (The Grand Budapest Hotel) and coming of age (Boyhood) will always be around but this politically charged, anti-prejudice drama is the most important film to see this year.
8/10
“I’ll be damned if history puts me with the likes of you.”
tuorhothmovies 