VividSimon Simply Perfect

Dynamixor The performances transcend the film's tropes, grounding it in characters that feel more complete than this subgenre often produces.

Gutsycurene Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

Kaelan Mccaffrey Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.

leethomas-11621 Magnificent re-telling of struggle for recognition of black voting rights. Incredibly it wasn't awarded an Oscar. Only real qualm is the soundtrack which is all over the place. Oyelowo's central performance holds everything together. Film doen't try to be over-ambitious with result that it isn't over-blown.

paul2001sw-1 The metaphorical march to justice is a slow one; but a significant step was taken on an actual march, from Selma to Montgomery in Alabama in 1965, when a public protest triggered action that finally allowed black Americans to vote, after many years in which they had been prevented from doing so. You could hardly go wrong in telling this story, a microcosm of the broader civil rights campaign: in this drama, you have many of the major figures in the wider battle: George Wallace, Malcolm X, Lyndon B. Johnson, and of course, the charismatic Martin Luther King, who naturally takes centre stage in this movie. He's quite well brought to life by David Olelowo, who certainly looks the part and acts it convincingly (though the film mostly elides his private life). Tom Wilkinson is slightly less successful as Johnson, a more generic politician than the larger-than-life figure who emerges from Robert Caro's biography. Even though the narrative is straightforward: a fierce and violent struggle, then the good guys win, there's still something very moving when the story reaches its conclusion. But in the age of 'Black Lives Matter' and the presidency of Donald Trump, maybe also shocking at how much still needs to be done.

ashbuff Only reason I gave it 9 rather than 10 was that the filmography didn't allow ANY boring bits where you could pee or refresh your glass. Actually I give it a 10, should have been quicker on the pause between speech. Reminds me of all the civil rights movies I love Like "Fried green tomatoes, (at the Whistle stop cafe," and The help. I only cry out of anger and frustration, (it is my fight or flee response), This one did not disappoint, and I'm not a weepy person. (also checkout Leon,the bit giving the plant roots WILL BREAK YOU). Ash x x x

l_rawjalaurence In 1964 and 1965 Dr. Martin Luther King (David Oyelowo) became heavily involved in a protest movement in Alabama designed to give all African Americans the vote. As with most of his campaigns, he advocated nonviolent methods, but was often met with violent responses from the white majority, orchestrated by Governor George Wallace (Tim Roth). Dr. King became involved not only with the local community but with President Lyndon B. Johnson (Tom Wilkinson), who was intransigent at first, but eventually swayed by force of circumstance into passing a bill removing all restrictions on the African American vote.Ava DuVernay's film tells a straightforward tale punctuated by memorable individual sequences. At the beginning Annie Lee Cooper (Oprah Winfrey) enters the courthouse in Selma in a vain attempt to register to vote; she is summarily denied by the white official. Nothing much is actually said but gestures signify everything; the humiliation experienced by Annie Lee set against the arrogance of the official. Later on, in the wake of the first abortive protest mounted by the African American community as they try to cover the fifty or so miles from Selma to the state capital Montgomery, three African Americans enter a diner and pretend to order food, in the vain hope that they will escape the pursuing white state troopers. The troopers enter and summarily beat them senseless, taking the life of Jimmy Lee Jackson (Lakeith Stanfield) in the process.The film's moral stance is unequivocal; in a world still riddled by institutional racism, the African Americans have a justifiable cause to plead. As performed by Oyelowo, Dr. King comes across as a tenacious personality, unwilling to give up his cause even in the face of overwhelming odds. Every time the President protests his inability to help, Dr. King goads him; we understand from such confrontations just how scared the President actually was of allowing too many concessions to the African American community.Brilliantly staged, with careful attention to detail, SELMA deserves to be considered a modern classic, marred only slightly by Roth's rather artificial Southern accent as Governor Wallace.