Selma tells of a certain point in the civil rights movement, specifically the struggle to get African Americans registered to vote, and the peaceful march between Selma and Montgomery, Alabama, to bring attention to their plight. It has received a lot of attention, especially lately with it failing to get a lot of Oscar love.
The movie is mostly well done. I can’t speak to how historically accurate it is, the events took place before my time and while I consider myself a somewhat history buff, I don’t know the fine details of the civil rights movement. It was a good movie though. The first half felt a little slow and almost rote, just telling the story with little else going on, but the second half more than made up for it. I’m not ashamed to admit the end brought me to tears.
I’m a movie buff, but I admit I’m no expert. However, it does bother me when some movies get a lot of attention simply because of their subject matter. A couple years ago, 12 Years a Slave won a lot of awards, and while I thought it a moving film, it wasn’t the best movie made that year. I was afraid Selma was going to be similar, but I felt it was a much better movie and deserves acclaim. I can’t say the acting was better than the choices the Academy did choose to nominate for the acting parts (and I did see nearly every single actor in those parts last year), but the director most certainly did deserve a nomination. The movie does hit home, despite taking place 50 years ago, we as a people still have a long way to go.
Jons Movie Takes 