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Selma
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02:26
Selma
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- 2014
- Ava DuVernay
- 122 mins
- 12A
Summary
Drama based on a true story, starring David Oyelowo and Tom Wilkinson. Alabama, 1965: although segregation in the United States is supposed to have ended, equal votes for black people in the Deep South is still not a reality. Nobel prize-winning civil rights leader Dr Martin Luther King meets with President Lyndon B Johnson and asks him to act, but when Johnson stalls, Dr King goes to Selma, Alabama, and initiates a series of demonstrations and marches that will change the face of America.
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Review
A star rating of 4 out of 5.
Andrew Collins
Director Ava DuVernay's sweepingly staged, dogmatic history lesson avoids the episodic pitfalls of the biopic by eschewing Dr Martin Luther King's whole life story in favour of a single flashpoint. She focuses on the three marches led by the civil rights beacon in 1965 from Selma in Alabama to the state capital, Montgomery, demanding equal voting rights for Black citizens. British actor David Oyelowo gives a career-defining performance as Dr King: stirring and full-blooded in public oratory from government steps to pulpit, fallible in private, but a match for Democratic President Lyndon B Johnson (Tom Wilkinson, whose amplified turn conveys sympathy within intransigence). There is an epic feel to the massed scenes on Edmund Pettus Bridge, but most of the action takes place indoors, where DuVernay gets the most out of a huge cast in smaller parts (including producer Oprah Winfrey, rapper Common and an uncredited Martin Sheen). If Tim Roth's segregationist governor George Wallace tips into panto and the concluding montage of news photos risks over-egging the message, the overall sense of righteous, non-violent anger is palpable.
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7.5/10
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Credits
Cast
rolenameMartin Luther King JrDavid OyelowoPresident Lyndon B JohnsonTom WilkinsonCoretta Scott KingCarmen EjogoLee C WhiteGiovanni RibisiJohn DoarAlessandro NivolaFred GrayCuba Gooding JrGeorge WallaceTim RothAnnie Lee CooperOprah WinfreyJames BevelCommon J Edgar HooverDylan BakerAmelia BoyntonLorraine ToussaintReverend Hosea WilliamsWendell Pierce
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Crew
rolenameDirectorAva DuVernay
Details
Theatrical distributor
Pathe
Released on
2015-02-06
Languages
English | Portuguese
Guidance
Violence, swearing, racist language.
Available on
DVD and Blu-ray
Formats
Colour
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