Selma (2015) Film Review

Selma has been something of an unloved member of the Best Picture crowd. Despite its near-universal positive reviews, it barely scrapped two nominations at the Oscars - Best Picture and Best Original Song - and it's unlikely that it'll win either. A great pity, as this Martin Luther King biopic - a first for the influential spokesperson -  would have been a strong contender in a multitude of categories. And add the news events of the past year, in particularly the Ferguson events  

The story of Selma goes that, despite the right to vote being given to them by then-President Johnson (Tom Wilkinson), black citizens in the South are unable to vote due to racial discrimination. Add a recent tragedy which claimed the life of four girls with little recognition, King (David Oyelowo) and his band of protesters travel to Selma, Alabama to encourage a non-violent revolt against the system, with violent outbursts from the white citizens causing major issues with their protest. Multiple march attempts come and go with support growing, especially following a massacre which was televised live, but the quest for equality was always going to be a hard one. 

The story is certainly a noteworthy one because of how similar the events are to how they've been in the past year. You see attacks by the police, including a noteworthy death of one particular character, and you can see the parallels to that of Ferguson. Of course, this wasn't an intention choice, but the similarities are there. However, that's not to say that the film's story is constantly engaging, thanks to a smaller, almost insignificant subplot regarding the state of King's marriage to his wife (Carmen Ejogo) which tries to come across as important but fails to reach those levels. First highlighted by FBI Director J Edgar (with Leonardo DiCaprio replaced with Dylan Baker in this fleeting appearance), it has very few resonances onto the overall story, so the lack of coverage explains the lack of care that particular storyline has. 

Whilst it's easy to commend Ava DuVarney for her strong sense of direction, or her and Paul Webb's strong screenplay which managed to expertly recreate the freedom fighter without breaking the expensive copyright and not include any of his famous speeches, the strongest element of Selma is David Oyelowo's magnificent performance as King Jr. You wouldn't believe it from the outset, but he truly is a marvel in the role, and it could be considered a crime that he (and DuVarney) weren't nominated in the end for their roles. Meanwhile, Wilkinson is rather good as the President, Tim Roth makes an intentionally funny George Wallace - not because of his character but more his accent - and each member of King's team, including Cuba Gooding, Jr and Common, are very impressive, if not a little forgettable. Oprah Winfery is rather underused when considering how much she's pushing the film (although she is also a producer) as is Ejogo, but each to their own. 

Selma is an eye-opening film, especially following recent events, but it's not a film without its faults. Yes it has a strong lead performance and it is visually appealing, but the first act is a slow goer and the second isn't any better. It takes a while to get going when things should already have grabbed us from the moment we see those four girls at the start. It's far from a bad film, but it needed more to be a great one. 7/10.