Selma Official Trailer 2015 – Oprah Winfrey, Cuba Gooding Jr. Movie HD
Selma Official Trailer And review by Richard Chester
MARTIN Luther King Jr was without doubt one of the most influential Americans in the 20th century.
Now with a new biopic, Selma, telling how King overcame adversity to fight for black people having the right to vote via a protest march from Selma to Montgomery in 1965, this all but clarifies that view.
Beginning in late 1964 with King (played with conviction by David Oyelowo) receiving the Nobel Peace Prize, a moment of victory for civil rights is quickly overshadowed with the scene of an explosion which kills several children. This is not the first incident however and there is no doubt that it will be the last.
Enquiring with newly elected President Lyndon B. Johnson (Tom Wilkinson) about the injustice towards white criminals and delaying of right to vote, three words after the unsuccessful meeting set the effect for the film , ‘‘Selma it is’’.
Plans for the march from Selma to Montgomery are then interweaved with sequences depicting the obstacles unsuccessfully designed to put King off. Peaceful protests turn into scenes of relenting brutality with one powerful sequence showing how a night-time protest resulted in the brazen murder of one protestor in a restaurant by a police officer. It is scenes like this which are deliberately designed to infuriate and anger but ones that are also necessary and there to educate.
Ava DuVernay directs these sequences with such realism and power that it baffles how she did not receive a Best Director Oscar nomination at least.
The scenes depicting conversations with President Johnson, whether its a losing argument with King or his climactic tirade at Alabama Governor George Wallace (Tim Roth) are among the best scenes in the film.
A combination of fine dialogue (‘‘You’ve got 1 big issue, I got 101’’ Johnson stubbornly tells King) and Oyelowo, Wilkinson and Roth proving that British actors are wholly adept at playing American figures makes for highly enjoyable viewing at times.
Selma is not the most comfortable film to watch, but it makes compulsive and required viewing, especially for today’s generation given the unfortunate case of racial tensions that have been at the forefront of America in recent months.
With films from this decade like The Help and The Butler documenting the struggles faced by black people in mid-20th century America, and Lincoln and 12 Years a Slave for long before then, this plays as not just the best of those films but also as a rewarding two hour lesson in American history.
****
