Having watched a long movie on Malcolm X, I decided to check out a movie on Martin Luther King, Jr. since it was much more easily digestible on Netflix. MLK has been one of those American figures put on a big pedestal. He receives praise for his long string of non-violent marches and boycotts, as well as his iconic “I Have a Dream” speech. Being assassinated at a young age (39 in 1968) also gave him the martyr boost ala Abraham Lincoln and JFK. But this doesn’t mean he’s without his detractors and myth-busters.
Selma is certainly
not made by either of those, written as an empowering look at a particular successful
episode in MLK’s life, the march for the right to vote in 1965. In this year,
MLK was able not just to organize his usual supporters, but thousands of
Americans from diverse backgrounds, into a big march from Selma to Montgomery,
both in Alabama. Despite constitutional guarantees in the 14th and
15th Amendments, Blacks had been denied the vote in the Jim Crow
South thanks to various questionable laws and loopholes. The march, and the publicly
broadcast violence on the part of the Alabama authorities, raised further
support for the Voting Rights Act.
Directed by Ava DuVernay, Selma was a hit at the awards shows, with four Golden Globe nominations and a best picture nomination at the Oscars (though curiously with no other nominations outside best song, unusual for a best picture nominee). So imagine my disappointment when I found the movie to be somewhat mediocre. I felt it got obligatory hype just because of the subject matter, since Hollywood loves to praise itself as a progressive institution.
