"Selma", A Movie Right On Time - Chris "Preach" Smith

Photo Credit: Paramount Studios

This past Monday, I had the good fortune to attend
an advance screening of ‘Selma’, a motion picture
capturing the events leading up to, and during the
historic march from Selma, Alabama to the state
capital of Montgomery in 1965 led by Dr.Martin
Luther King and other members of SNCC and the
SCLC. The film stars David Oyelowo, Carmen Ejogo,
Oprah Winfrey, Wendell Pierce, Common and Martin
Sheen among many other talented actors. In the 
director’s chair for this film is the highly talented
and crtically acclaimed Ava DuVernay. I walked into
the theater, open for what would splash across the
screen. I walked out, utterly moved and inspired. And
aware of just how ON TIME this movie truly is.

Photo Credit: Deadline

Simply put, it is amazing that ‘Selma’ was even made.
Hollywood’s track record as an entity with regards to
Black films has always seen a bent towards nobility 
in the midst of suffering, but done in a neat fashion
with a veneer of romanticism. You can rattle off a 
couple of films that have been released in recent 
years that smack of this approach. Martin Luther King
as a historical figure has been both lionized and also
has been subject to a stripping down to where he
can be seen as one-dimensional. Even now, in the
midst of the massive amount of protests, you have
critics of those protesters be they casually or woefully
ignorant try to use MLK as a pacifier without truly
knowing the full scope of the man and his mssion.
Duvernay does not take this approach at all with this
film. From the opening scenes that lead into the title, she
makes it plain what the tone of the film is going to be.
There are no punches pulled whatsoever. This Martin
Luther King has layers, depth. Times where his faith 
is tested. The same goes for Coretta Scott King. One
has to hand it to David Oyelowo, who takes on a 
daunting role and embodies it in a way that leaves 
you riveted. His acting here is a prime example of 
what ‘presence’ should mean when taking on such an
important historical figure. Carmen Ejogo, who plays
Coretta, gives you a majestic look at her experience.
(Coincidentally, this is her second time playing the 
late Mrs. King - she did the same in HBO’s ‘Boycott’
opposite her future husband, Jeffrey Wright in 1998.)
The scene where she visits Martin in jail after an 
important meeting and they quarrel - the emotion 
within that scene conveyed by the two actors is 
nothing short of moving.

‘Moving’ would be an appropriate term for ‘Selma’. I
won’t sit here and lie and act as if this movie didn’t 
rip at my insides. You will FEEL this movie tear at 
you. Repeatedly. From the tense conversations that
MLK has with President Lyndon Baines Johnson(expertly
played by Tom Wilkinson) to the actual depiction of
the sheer violence that took place on the Edmund 
Pettus Bridge(trust me when I tell you that there 
was loud weeping that took place as the scene 
unfolded), ‘Selma’ does not give you much respite 
from what actually took place. And it dovetails with
the current movement now taking place across the
country against systemic police brutality against
Black and Brown people in that it accurately depicts
the pushback that Dr.King and others faced from a
White House that was initially set on pushing other
agendas outside of Black people having their rights to
vote in the South. Pushback that eerily is echoed in
recent calls from the Mayor of New York City and other
council members to stop marching until the funerals for
two NYPD officers murdered by a madman were over. 
Dr. King and the other members of the movement, and
the Black citizens of Selma didn’t stop because they
knew they had to press on to be heard. Heard and
understood. The cast was actuely aware, showing up
wearing t-shirts as protest over the choking death of
Eric Garner in Staten Island, New York, a case in which
the grand jury didn’t return an indictment of the officer
who applied the illegal chokehold. Truth be told, the
struggle for civil rights still persists. ‘Selma’ clearly
brings that message home again and again.

Photo Credit:GlobalGrind 

Another remarkable point about ‘Selma’ is that it is the
first major motion picture about Dr.Martin Luther King.
All other films have been for regular & cable television.
It might  not have been made without the considerable efforts
of Oprah Winfrey and Harpo Productions. Winfrey 
herself figures into the film well as Annie Lee Cooper,
being a connecting piece that keeps the pace up within.
Brad Pitt is also an executive producer. As I alluded
to earlier, Hollywood hasn’t seen fit to bring a movie
like this out. Even Spike Lee’s ‘Malcolm X’ in 1992
had to have a considerable amount of outside financial
support. Balanced, nuanced portrayals of historic
Americans of color are increasing to meet the demand
for them by the public. Which is all the more reason why
you need to make it a point to see ‘Selma’. This is a
movie the people need, now more than ever. It’s a movie
that deserves its expected Oscar nominations, for DuVernay
and Oyelowo especially. It’s a movie we all can be really
inspired and emboldened by. ‘Selma’ is a ‘must’ movie - a 
must-see, and a must for these trying times that the
nation is currently struggling through. Times a nation
must go through to truly be what it proclaims that it is
to the rest of the world. 

‘Selma’ opens in limited engagements on Christmas Day,
and nationwide on January 9th.