WE MARCH: a review of "Selma"

"SELMA"
Screenplay Written by Paul Webb
Directed by Ava DuVernay
**** (four stars)

"So long as I do not firmly and irrevocably possess the right to vote, I do not possess myself."
-Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. 
"Give Us The Ballot, We Will Control The South" May 17, 1957

A few short weeks ago as I was driving around the city flipping between radio stations, I came across a progressive talk radio program and the host was engaged in one of those predictably fiery debates with a caller. While I can tend to shut those on-air shout fests to the background or else just change the dial, this particular caller made a statement that nearly made me want to pull over the car as I was in complete and utter disbelief. Are you ready? The words this caller exclaimed were as follows: "This isn't the 60's! We're not living in the Civil Rights Movement anymore!!" 

It was a statement that was as stupefying as it was infuriating and ignorant. To that end, it is precisely a statement like that one that proves the essential necessity of a movie like "Selma" to enter the landscape and our public discourse as Director Ava DuVernay has created a cinematic history lesson that is as up to the minute as opening a newspaper today or even just looking not terribly far outside of your own windows. "Selma" is a searing slow burn of a film, easily one of 2014's very best, and one that jointly inspires and incenses, especially as the general public has grown more politically apathetic. Additionally, and for that matter, the full knowledge of who Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. actually was and precisely what he stood for has almost been relegated to the highlight reel of foggy archived film footage as well as a more pedestrian outlook of his political activism, for he was indeed an activist in every stretch of the word. What Ava DuVernay has achieved with such palpable force is to show with "Selma" is that the Civil Rights Movement is not a remnant of the past and truthfully, it never ended. The Civil Rights Movement is RIGHT NOW!

Beginning with moments of triumph and tragedy, "Selma" opens with Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s (brilliantly portrayed by David Oyelowo) acceptance speech after receiving the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize, which is soon followed by the subsequent murder of four young African American girls in a Birmingham, Alabama church bombing. From this point, "Selma" revolves itself around Dr. King's turbulent struggle to obtain federal legislation protecting African-Americans' voting rights in light of the mounting cases of the illegal denying of registration rights all the way to acts of violence perpetrated against the African American community.

Already under F.B.I. surveillance by J. Edgar Hoover (Dylan Baker), plus enduring repeated philosophical battles with a reluctant President Lyndon B. Johnson (Tom Wilkinson) and facing marital stresses at home with his wife Coretta Scott King (Carmen Ejogo), Dr. King travels to Selma, Alabama with his colleagues and meets with members of the SCLC (Southern Christian Leadership Conference) to determine how precisely to stage a non-violent protest that will ultimately consist of a march from Selma to Montgomery. Facing incarceration, escalating violence at the hands of the Alabama state police and the leadership of the racist Governor George Wallace (Tim Roth) and President Johnson's unshakable political strategizing and moral indifference, we are witness to how Dr. King remained steadfast with maintaining the clarity of his vision of equality and justice for all despite the odds and obstacles.    

"Selma" is a stately, somber, and profoundly sobering experience, especially as we make serious note of the fact that the film concludes with the introduction of the Voting Rights Act Of 1965, the very act that was decimated just last year and on the eve of its 50th anniversary. With her film, Ava DuVernay wisely chooses to focus her film upon a specific period of time within Dr. King's life rather than provide the full arc of his life, an approach that absolutely forces everyone watching the film to also look to the world in which we co-exist in 2015.

What DuVernay has masterfully achieved with this tactic is to design a wrenching "what is past is prologue" narrative as I just cannot fathom how anyone watching this film, in which we hear several of Dr. King's speeches, delivered with eerie precision by David Oyelowo, and NOT make the proper parallels to current events. Elements of the Occupy movement, the protests and riots that followed the racially motivated murders of Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown and Eric Garner plus the insidious political gerrymandering and Voter ID laws that are completely designed to strip many Americans of their rights to vote are all represented within "Selma" and yet not one minute of this film takes place in the present. They are represented because we, as a nation, have been at this precise point before and again. Because of this intensified immediacy, "Selma" becomes essential viewing and definitely a motion picture that should be screened in high schools across the country to full illustrate to students the fact that not only what is being depicted on-screen is very recent history, but the exact same struggles are happening right now and will ultimately affect them in the future.

Rest assured, "Selma" is not a stuffy, dusty history lesson but at all times is a fiercely griping drama. I deeply appreciated how DuVernay never backed down for an instant from the violence, brutality and inhumanity of this particular era. While never gratuitously graphic, "Selma" provides a realistic terror contained during that specific period (which of course echoes loudly today) as well as the heroic and seemingly impossible bravery from those who continued marching forwards always knowing explicitly what violence is bound to be hurled in their direction. Again, it is this immediacy that speaks volumes throughout the film and provides a formidable context, especially when the adage "People died for the right to vote," has become an empty platitude for so many.

One sequence, based upon the "Bloody Sunday" attacks on March 7, 1965, where 600 members of Dr. King's colleagues and peaceful protesters are viciously attacked upon the Edmund Pettus Bridge, vividly holds a mirror up to our 21st century clashes between protesters and police with punishing force. And yet, "Selma" is not solely an incendiary experience as DuVernay often fills the film with many moments of pin drop silences that are at times even more intense and unsettling than the sequences of violence. For instance, we have a later sequence where Dr. King and his colleagues, now joined by White peace activists and members of the clergy, return to the Edmund Pettus Bridge, and the police, instead of raining violence, openly invite everyone to cross. Dr. King,feeling tremendous uncertainly and sensing danger, pauses and silently prays for guidance before turning backwards, leading the procession away. It is a chilling scene which DuVernay handles like a champion.

But even greater than the moments of violence are the larger themes and questions concerning the politics and strategy of non-violence, the very thematic content which speaks to the heart of "Selma." As DuVernay explores the birth and organization of a specific movement and the difficulties with maintaining and growing that movement, I really loved how she explored the clashes of ego and temperament as well as ideology held between Dr. King and additional activist figures like Andrew Young (played by Andre Holland), John Lewis (played by Stephan James), James Bevel (played by Common), and Hosea Williams (played by Wendell Pierce) among others.

Watching these figures debate philosophically and passionately deftly showcased how the Civil Rights Movement did not emerge as a fully formed entity. While the participants involved may have held the same endgame in mind, the means to achieve their goals were comparatively different, which did lead to some spirited in-fighting. And then, we must also take note of the idea that perhaps at times, and depending upon the circumstances which could shift and transform on a moment's notice, there must have been an aspect of the movement that forced Dr. King to adapt in a sort of "we're making this up as we go along" fashion. In these incredibly provocative sections of "Selma," the film often reminded me of Director Steven Spielberg's "Lincoln" (2012) as that film was essentially a more methodical and meditative experience that was about the process of obtaining votes to make the Emancipation Proclamation a reality. "Selma" is equally meditative and methodical, as the film is about the building of a grass roots activist movement and continuing even when all feels insurmountable and impossible.

There has been some controversy surrounding "Selma" in regards to the exact role President Johnson performed with the growth of the Civil Rights Movement in general and the Selma to Montgomery march in particular, with some suggesting that the march itself occurred only after LBJ's permission. This sentiment is something I wholeheartedly disagree with as it suggests a certain "Mother May I?" approach to political activism that flies completely in the face of who Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was as a political figure and advocate for social justice. Because let's face it, and as a very wise friend once expressed, if you have to ask for permission for the right to protest. then you never had that right to begin with.

This viewpoint seems to be shared by Ava DuVernay within her depictions of the tense discussions between King and Johnson in "Selma," and I feel that she is suggesting within her narrative that LBJ's actions were more to do with political self-preservation rather than through any sense of moral justice and fortitude. As LBJ expresses to George Wallace at one point in the film, "We can't think about 1965 right now. We need to be thinking abut 1985!" The arrival of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 was most likely introduced as a matter of the preserving of a political and Presidential legacy. But, in the end, what does it matter as the Voting Rights Act of 1965 became a reality regardless.

On a more personal level, "Selma" is a character portrait that is as meditative and methodical as much as I would imagine the real Dr. King to have been. Because of that crucial quality, DuVernay ensures that "Selma" rightfully avoids some of the trappings that kept "Lincoln" a bit at arms length for me.

When I think of a motion picture that is daring to tackle the life (or in this case, a portion) of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., the task feels to be so impossible as his iconic status and legacy has rendered him to be a figure that is almost unattainable to fully capture or conceptualize. Miraculously, DuVernay has taken Dr. King down from the pedestal and has rendered a figure who is provocatively and so recognizably human. Yes, DuVernay gives us the great orator but she carefully yet fearlessly presents to us a man who was as flawed and filled with uncertainty and doubt as he was inventive, steadfast, and supremely courageous. And here is where David Oyeowo's masterful performance comes to the forefront.

Now that I have seen the film, I can easily say that there is not even one, solitary reason that anyone could give to me explaining just why David Oyelowo was not nominated for an Academy Award. Oyelowo not only gives one of the finest performances of the year, immediately propelling himself to the front ranks of our new-ish crop of actors to the silver screen, it is a performance of uncanny transformation that you will often perform double takes wondering if what you are witnessing is indeed Oyelowo or perhaps archived footage of the real Dr. King.

David Oyelowo completely commands the screen with tremendous gravitas, and during the sequences where he is required to emulate the voice and mannerisms that have indeed become iconic, he proves himself to be up to the challenge as much as what we saw with Denzel Washington's career best performance in Spike Lee's finest motion picture "Malcolm X" (1992). As you regard not only his voice but his body language, David Oyelowo truly becomes larger than life in these and other sections of "Selma." But just as impressively, we also witness how Oyelowo almost shrinks himself during times of severe uncertainty. Oyelowo succeeds because he finds a way to burrow underneath the skin of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., all the while probing and discovering quite possibly what made the man tick, what drove him, what infuriated him, and even what he was afraid of.

In addition to all of the political sequences, take one section of the film when an incarcerated Dr. King is visited by Coretta Scott King who informs him that she has taken up a brief meeting with Malcolm X (Nigel Thatch). DuVernay and Oyelowo utilize this moment to present to us that Dr. King was not immune to bouts of anger and even jealousy. And then, there is one audacious sequence where DuVernay actually presents Coretta Scott King confronting her husband over his extra-marital affairs. When she asks of him whether he has loved anyone else, just watch how Oyelowo plays the lengthy silence that ensues as Dr. King meditates over his answer, past actions, guilt, remorse, love and the need for forgiveness and then, finally responds. It is an excellent performance, richly layered, completely empathetic, perceptive and so brilliantly executed to make the figure of Dr. King into someone tangible. What Oyelowo achieves through his performance, and therefore DuVernay with her film, was to show how Dr. King was a three dimensional, complex human being with foibles and failures who somehow dug deeply to bring forth the best of himself for himself and humanity as a whole...precisely the message he has wished for every single one of us to achieve as we march through the world. For when we do arrive at our best selves, humanity always wins. Within "Selma," we see how Dr. King continuously taught this lesson to himself as well as to society as a whole and David Oyelowo was a remarkable conduit for this message.

As I watched "Selma," I often thought about that radio show I mentioned at the outset of this review and the preposterousness of the ignorance contained within that caller's statements. "Selma" then inspired me to mentally return to the events of February 2011, when the people of Madison, WI stormed, and soon occupied, the State Capitol to protest the policies of the (then) newly elected Governor Scott Walker, policies that even Walker himself has described as "divide and conquer." It was the night that then inspired the full Wisconsin Uprising, an experience during which I participated over and again through a period of nearly three months, whether housed at the epicenter of the Capitol Rotunda or marching throughout the streets surrounding the building and alongside thousands of Wisconsinites and visitors of solidarity to the state. And the entire experience, despite whatever the politicians attempted to feed to the complacent media, was non-violent. Yes, people were angry. Truthfully, people were enraged. But as I met more and more people from so many walks of life during those months we stood side by side in the frigid cold and snow or in the volcanically loud Capitol Rotunda, I felt the echoes, the reverberations and even the power of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.'s political vision of non-violent protest. It completely surrounded me, and I cannot even begin to fully express how beautiful it was.

I thought of the world in which we live currently while I watched "Selma" because how could I not? Frankly, I am fearing that we are living in politically dangerous times that are quite possibly even more dangerous than 50 years ago specifically because after all of the gains we have made as a human society in 50 years, much of those gains are being eroded as I write. We live in a time where political discourse has disintegrated into vacuous rancor. Journalism is essentially dead. The media has been bought and sold as well as our electoral system. Corporations are supposedly "people," money is supposedly "speech," and the wealthiest among us are supposedly disenfranchised. Education is devalued as teachers are now vilified. Science, reason and cold, hard facts themselves are virtually ignored by our leaders. We have truly found ourselves through the looking glass where as Bill Maher once expressed, "How can we have a debate when we cant even agree on reality?" And therefore, what can be done to speak truth to power when despite the volumes of truth, there seems to be even greater power which is held in fewer and fewer hands?

"Selma" informs and questions us about what precisely does it take to bring a political movement to life. What is the spark that ignites and what are the lessons that can be learned to help us remain inspired even when a groundswell ultimately fails, as it did in Wisconsin. The work of protest does indeed feel exhaustive but when we really look backwards, especially at the events as depicted in "Selma," how can we even begin to bemoan our state of existence and complain of being tired when people did indeed die for the right to vote? As far as I am concerned, ANY and ALL semblances of apathy are inexcusable and we owe it to our collective past, present and future to perform the deep soul searching that Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. performed during his lifetime when we think about how we wish to exist in the world.

Recently, when I was feeling politically dejected with Scott Walker's re-election, a reality that has left me with increased feelings of hopelessness, I learned that the Solidarity Singers, a small group of individuals who organized during those initial protests, who sing protest songs during the lunch hour each day at the Capitol had reached their 1000th day of protest through song.  Think about this, dear readers. 1000 days without fail. 1000 days even when the numbers of singers have dwindled. 1000 days even after Walker issued violent (and frankly illegal and unconstitutional) raids against the singers, which ultimately drew the protesters back to the Capitol Rotunda for a spell. 1000 days and just for singing protest songs together.

That is the spark. That is the soul and spirit of peaceful, non-violent protest. That is the continuing vision of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. made into reality in the 21st century. That is the ember for which we should continue to cling to and furthermore bring back to a greater, unstoppable flame because the people truly do have the power, if only we could crawl out of our apathy to realize precisely just how much power we actually have.

Ava DuVernay's "Selma" is a stirring cinematic experience that provides us a window into or history but it is not the past. "Selma" is NOW.