Rating of
3/4
David Oyelowo + Luther King = Oscar worthy
Matthew Brady - wrote on 02/01/15
Martin Luther King, Jr.: "When will we be free? Soon and very soon. Because you shall reap what you saw. When will we be free? Soon".
Selma tells the story of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. led a dangerous campaign to secure equal voting rights in the face of violent opposition. The epic march from Selma to Montgomery culminated in President Johnson (Tom Wilkinson) signing the Voting Rights Act of 1965, one of the most significant victories for the civil rights movement. Director Ava DuVernays SELMA tells the real story of how the revered leader and visionary Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. (David Oyelowo) and his brothers and sisters in the movement prompted change that forever altered history.
Poor Selma, being shut out from the Oscars and BAFTA awards for acting and directing (Which deserves some nominations for god sake) but to be honest I thought this was going to be a Oscar bait film, you know like The Butler or Extremely Loud and Incredibly Close, because I had no idea that this movie existed until award season stared and that's when I had that thought of Oscar bait, but after seeing the film myself I can say no it's not a Oscar bait film. It's actually a pretty good movie.
What really surprise me is how much films David Oyelowo has been in 2014, I didn't take much notice but now I have and I was extremely shocked how he got overlooked by the Academy and the BAFTA, because his performance in this movie is by the best I've seen this year. I didn't just see David Oyelowo being Oyelowo, no I only saw Martin Luther King and nothing else. I can see that David Oyelowo had strong passion for this role that he put everything in it and he absolutely nailed it. David you may not got a Oscar nomination for you outstanding performance but you won everyone over with your acting and you got a bright future a head of you buddy. Great work David.
Ava DuVernay who to me is a unknown directed. I haven't seen the other work that she did so I can't really say, but after watching Selma I know straight away that we got a good one here, because she directed this movie with has much care as possible and effort to show how bad it was back then and she did it so well her that getting snubbed at the Oscars for directing is crime in my eyes.
The one thing that makes Selma a truly great movie is the fact that the movie isn't all inspiring or beautifully touching like most Holly Wood cliche Oscar bait movies, no the director smartly takes a different turn for the best and just show what really happened and try not to make it all inspiring and make Martian look like a god like person and all that other stuff that's been done to death now. Selma steps away from that and shows the mistakes that this guy did because let's not forget that Martian Luther Kings was only human, just a guy who's not perfect of what he did and I hate it when Holly Wood takes a real life person and make him perfect and a god to everybody's eyes and when you look up the person in real life you start to see these other stories where he made mistakes then and there and you find out that the movie isn't being truthfully to the real life person, but in this movie Selma takes that cliche and say "Sorry but that dose not happen. Go away Holly Wood".
Now for problems: Martin Luther Kings was the only interesting and the one person I cared about in this movie, but the other character's I didn't really give a fuss about them. I know I should but really I don't, I don't even remember they names at all. You may find them interesting but I didn't.
Selma overall isn't just a Oscar bait or too HollyWood movie. The movie has outstanding performances from David Oyelowo, great directing from Ava DuVernay and a movie that I hope get's viewers attention in the late future.
