Selma: A Movie Review

Selma is focused on the civil rights events in Selma, Alabama in 1965. I thought this film was well acted, especially by David Oyelowo as Martin Luther King and Carmen Ejogo as Coretta Scott King. The film was well directed.

I also thought Dylan Baker as J. Edgar Hoover was miscast, as was Oprah, who was a distraction.  Overall it was a very good movie. They played with the historic timeline a big to create more drama, but it tried to stay accurate with some bias (like not mentioning who actually killed Malcolm X).  The emphasized edge between LBJ and King may rub some liberals wrong (frankly I wish LBJ focused more on voting rights and way less on his "war on poverty" program)--but like most politicians I suspect LBJ was pushing for his way of dealing with these events rather than King's. It is a bit predictable (which is a problem with historic films) and a wee bit self congratulatory to the movie industry.