Selma

This film was nothing less than magnificent.
We sort of know the story, the marching in Selma, but this film shows us what really happened. Martin Luther King, Jr. (David Oyelowo) is adamant, with good reason, that President Lyndon Johnson (Tom Wilkinson) sign a bill that would guarantee African Americans the right to vote. Johnson is not against doing something like that, but he has bigger fish to fry, more problems than one could count. They even mention how ironic it is that he send troops over to Vietnam but not to the south to protect the marching African Americans terrorized by the southern whites, both in authority and the average working joe.
Sure, the Civil Rights Act was passed in 1964, and Johnson was proud of it, but things are still horribly unequal in the south and King decides that Selma is the place for it to happen. Sure, they've tried in other places before, and have failed to gather the attention of the nation and though King hates violence and death, he needs the white mayor to be against their actions and treat them horribly. This is what happens in Selma. A march goes wrong, and some African Americans escape to a diner but the police follow them in and kill the young son (Keith Stanfield). His elderly father survives the brutal beating. The first mass march from Selma to Birmingham is dreadful, with tear gas and batons, beating the African Americans, even after they had already started running away. John Lewis (Stephan James), leader of SNCC suffered a fractured skull but would continue with the fight.
The next time, King is back and leads the march and the Alabama State Police back off, but the marchers still turn back and King receives much criticism for this. But it didn't feel right for him. He tries legal action instead and luckily, the judge (Martin Sheen) sides with them so they are able to march, unimpeded from Selma to Birmingham, and when Wallace meets with the president, Johnson finally relents, not wanting to be grouped into the same category of history as Wallace. Within months, the Equal Voters Rights Bill comes to pass. Thank goodness.
We also see part of King's life behind the scenes, his family life. Coretta (Carmen Ejogo) is devoted to him, though she seldom joins him in the fight because she must care for the children. His unfaithfulness to her is also most upsetting, though the film only hits at that and probably should have gone into more detail. We see him interact with his fellow leaders, too numerous to count but his best scene is when the young John Lewis tells him how much his one speech meant to him. We see him urge everyone to come out to Selma, white, black or otherwise and we see him practically beg the President to give in to their not unreasonable demands. He never strays from his goal, not giving in to the bargains officials offer him and he is a brilliant public speaker and Oyelowo is spectacular and was totally robbed of his Oscar nomination as he is certainly in the same league as both Keaton and Redmayne for their respective films.  Ejogo is also great as is Wilkinson, but the film as a whole is amazing. From the first scene when King goes and accepts his Nobel Peace Prize to the church bombing in Birmingham where four innocent little girls are killed needlessly. But the scene that sticks the most with me, for some reason is when Annie Lee Cooper (Oprah Winfrey) tries to register to vote and the clerk asks her tons of ridiculous questions, and some she can answer, like the preamble to the constitution and how many county judges exist in Alabama (67, for the record) but she can't name each and every single one of them, who could?
Sure, some of the scenes don't fit together that well, as the film tries to tell both a personal story as well as one on a larger scope, but either way, it will be remembered. Unfortunately, this film was largely snubbed at the Oscars, receiving a slim two nominations, though one was for Best Film. The director should have been recognized for coaxing great performances from everyone, including Andre Holland, Wendell Corey, Lorraine Troussaint and Tessa Thompson. Tim Roth is effectively creepy as Alabama governor George Wallace and Dylan Baker is cruel as J. Edgar Hoover who even suggests that assassinating King would solve all of Johnson's problems. I also liked that the screenplay mentioned what happened to some of the most important characters as well as some minor ones, like how one white woman was murdered five hours after King's speech in Birmingham, driving home from the march.
You need to see this film, and I haven't said that about many films this year. Sure, there were other good films this year, none of them have been as important as this one.
The ironic thing is, just as they mention in this film how African Americans need someone to vouch for them so they can vote, perhaps that is why this film was ignored by the Academy, no one was willing to vouch for it and that is a real shame. Grade: A