Saw "Selma" Today. Why You Should Too.

NJFantastic in many ways. Go see this film!

Why:
This is NOT the usual Hollywood African-American history movie nor is it about MLK, the icon/legend of the Civil Rights Movement. There is no white savior. This film IS about the movement work leading up to the "Selma" marches and the Voting Rights Act of 1965. This film CENTERS the many people who were involved including MLK and Coretta Scott King.

"Selma" is directed and produced by Ava DuVernay (previous contractual obligations prevent her from getting screenplay credit) the first black female director to be nominated for a Golden Globe Award for this film. That's right. This is not another movie done through the lens of a straight, cis, white man. It is done through the lens of someone whose family still lives in that part of the state. A black female someone.

This film is so timely right now as to be uncanny, but this is how the universe works. For me, there is a direct connection from the events and struggles depicted in Selma to the current social justice movements in the U.S. It makes clear to me (okay, clearer) that the forces we live under now are simply a (sometimes not so) disguised continuation of the forces then.

I could go on. Go see for yourself.

©2014 Kim L. Ford