Selma

I don't like it when movies are called "important". It's such a pretentious description and feels like an attempt to add greater "weight" to a medium where it just really doesn't apply. Not to imply art can't "mean something", I just think it's a reach to call movies "important". This one? It's important. I grew up in a racially diverse neighborhood/school. At various times, my best friend was Japanese, Hispanic, black and white. My wife and nephew, who saw Selma with me, did not. They are both from lily-white backgrounds and I think that has distanced them a little bit from the importance of the civil rights movement. I don't mean that I've got some great insight or anything, just that I'm a little more familiar with it than they are. Anyway, this was a movie I felt they needed to see. Selma tells the story of the march from Selma to Mongtomery in early 1965 in protest of laws that prevented blacks from voting. And it tells that story extremely well. The cast is impeccable - David Oyelowo as Martin Luther King Jr is an absolute riveting, magnetic revelation. The pacing is generally terrific, though it could have been tightened up just a bit. While there are a couple gripes with its accuracy - LBJ is (as the producers have admitted) portrayed more negatively than the reality - the overall result is one of authenticity. We are given a full picture of the various groups at the time. MLK is portrayed as less than perfect (his extramarital affairs are mentioned) and there is conflict and infighting. But we still see the grand vision and passion of King and his incredible charisma. This is a knockout movie - really, really good. And you just might learn something from it, as my wife & nephew did. 9/10.