Remembering 'Selma,' on Martin Luther King Day
Ava DuVernay’s 2014 film masterfully told the story of MLK’s political genius in organizing the 1965 march.
(Happy Martin Luther King Day, and also, happy 14th birthday to my son Noah, who I’m proud shares a birthday with Dr. King. Please enjoy this free post.)
In a fact that’s mind-boggling, Selma, Ava DuVernay’s 2014 film about the 1965 Selma March, was somehow the first feature film made by a Hollywood studio in which Dr. Martin Luther King was the protagonist. There were documentaries, and TV movies, and films in which Dr. King was one of the characters, somehow Selma was the first to feature King as the main character, 46 years after his death.
And in that film, DuVernay did not tell a decades-spanning story about King’s entire life, but rather focused on a brief period in 1964 and 1965, starting with King receiving the Nobel Peace Prize, and then planning and carrying out the three attempts at Selma-to-Montgomery marches in the spring of 1965.
Also covered by the film — and its most controversial element — was King’s relationship with President Lyndon Johnson. DuVernay’s film portrays Johnson as, at times, conspiring with Gov. George Wallace against King’s plans, although he ultimately did pass and sign the Voting Rights Act later in 1965.
What I always appreciated most about Selma was that it shows King in a specific way: As a brilliant political strategist and tactician. Yes, we see him disagreeing with his allies, and the film does not soft-pedal any of the aspects of King’s womanizing. But the film doesn’t just depict King moving people with his great public oratory- it shows him moving people behind the scenes.
As I wrote in my original review back in early 2015, for the late website TechnologyTell (via the Wayback Machine):
“Selma” does the same thing that Gus Van Sant and Dustin Lance Black did in “Milk,” and Steven Spielberg and Tony Kushner did in “Lincoln,” “Selma” shows us Martin Luther King’s political genius not just with great oratory, by taking us through the process of how he did it. And yes, I realize that all three of the subjects of those movies are men who were ultimately assassinated. Goes to show that in America, politics has its limits.
These films show that while great speeches are unquestionably cinematic, depiction of savvy political strategy, and a plan coming together, can be even more captivating on screen.A lot of “great man” biopics would show us the protagonist merely giving public speeches, and doing everything he did that’s a matter of public record. “Selma” takes us behind the scenes and guides us through the process of King’s political strategy, his planning and how it all came together. And that’s something that’s as wonderfully cinematic as the depiction of the march itself.
Beyond that, the filmmakers faced another challenge: They did not have permission to use Dr. King’s real speeches, so they had to write facsimiles, which were never less than convincing. The film’s credited writer was Paul Webb, although he and DuVernay had a credit dispute, the director likely contributed to the script to some degree.
Historians have nitpicked various aspects of the film’s narrative, and all are defensible except for the LBJ stuff, which implied that Johnson did more to obstruct King’s efforts than he really did, and also that he was part of the efforts of J. Edgar Hoover to spy on King.
The cast was all strong as well, even without the presence of huge stars. The British David Oyelowo gave one of the best performances of King in history, while Carmen Ejogo matched him as Coretta Scott King. Tom Wilkinson, who we recently lost, was another Brit who capably played LBJ, as was Tim Roth as a chilling George Wallace.
Fine actors also portrayed most of King’s allies in the struggle. Colman Domingo, who starred in last year’s Rustin — a film that tried to emulate Selma but came up mostly short — played Ralph Abernathy in Selma, while Ruben Santiago-Hudson was Rustin. Future Succession star Jeremy Strong played doomed minister James Reeb.
The final march sequence, in particular, is exquisite:
Just a few weeks after the film’s release, President Barack Obama re-enacted part of the march, speaking in front of the Pettus Bridge on the 50th anniversary of the Selma march:
Another thing Selma was known for was its somewhat botched release. It got a qualifying release in December 2014 but was pushed out wide on Martin Luther King Day weekend in early 2015, which meant that few critics saw it in time and it didn’t get many critics’ awards.
The film got only two Oscar nominations, which was far fewer than it deserved, although one was for Best Picture, and the other was for Best Original Song (Joh Legend and Common’s “Glory”), which won. This pattern has repeated itself with DuVernay’s very good 2023 film, Origin, which was barely released for qualifying and has gotten much less of a push than it should have been.
Of course, that’s not the only unfortunate modern-day development that recalls Selma of late. The political right hated King when he was alive — read some National Review back issues from the 1960s if you don’t believe me — and as recently as the late 1990s, some states rescinded Martin Luther King holidays.
But for the bulk of the last 25 years, the right wing in America has pushed the revisionist history that actually, Dr. King was a secret conservative, or that he “would be a Republican today.”
I pushed back on this in Philadelphia magazine back in 2013- it supposes that the line in the “I Have a Dream” speech about “they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character” was the only thing King ever said, and also that the specific causes he advocated for didn’t exist. King was, unambiguously, a man of the political left, and his political position during his lifetime was to the left of both major parties.
But now, there’s word that some on the right have abandoned that posture, with Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk announcing plans to argue that King was “awful” and that the passage of 1960s civil rights legislation was a mistake. This is perhaps not surprising, considering the rise of the alt-right and Turning Point having multiple racism scandals throughout its history.
Selma is highly recommended for those interested in King’s history and striking back against such foulness. It is currently available to stream on Prime Video and Paramount+.
Great post!