when Hollywood (re)discovers Martin Luther King

OCS MAX – MONDAY, AUGUST 29 AT 9:00 P.M. – FILM

It was February 2, 1965. In Selma (Alabama), along with hundreds of other people, Pastor Martin Luther King was arrested during a demonstration for civil rights. The place is not neutral: in this city, 130 blacks out of 15,000 enjoy the right to vote. And this, even though, since 1870, the 15^e amendment allows, in theory, all black Americans to vote. Alabama Governor George Wallace promised as much during his inauguration speech: “Segregation now, segregation tomorrow, segregation forever. »

Crowned with his Nobel Peace Prize, Martin Luther King chose this small town characteristic of the racist South of the United States as a symbolic place to convince Lyndon B. Johnson, the man who, a short time ago, thanks to the assassination of President Kennedy, joined the White House, to sign the Voting Rights Act, which will guarantee the right to vote to all American citizens, regardless of the color of their skin.

It will be done, on August 6, 1965. In the meantime, there were famous marches. And countless violence. History retains the date of March 7, 1965, the infamous Bloody Sunday. That day, near the Edmund-Pettus Bridge, 600 walkers were attacked by tear gas. The repression is so violent that the main television networks decide to interrupt their programs to broadcast live what is happening in this lost corner of Alabama. Two days later, Martin Luther King took the lead in a second march.

Chronology of events

Until now, Hollywood was curiously not interested in this crucial episode in the history of the United States. Selma, the film by Ava DuVernay, has the primary merit of filling a gap. Both educational and effective, it pays a just tribute to Martin Luther King and his fellow travelers (including Andrew Young, John Lewis and many women). The actors, especially David Oyelowo and Tim Roth (who has a blast as George Wallace), are outstanding.

Punctuated by excerpts from FBI surveillance reports – whose boss, J. Edgar Hoover, never missed a crumb of what was happening in Alabama – the screenplay gives pride of place to the chronology of events as they unfold. took place in Selma. Too bad the film doesn’t broaden the frame more often by showing the impact, or lack of impact, of this long march in the United States and around the world.

Fifty years after Bloody Sunday, a few months after the death, in Ferguson (Missouri), in August 2014, of Michael Brown, a young unarmed black man, Selma was a necessary movie. Barack Obama occupied the Oval Office, but the dream of the D^r King still hadn’t come true.

Selma, by Ava Duvernay. With David Oyelowo, Tom Wilkinson, Carmen Ejogo, Tim Roth and Oprah Winfrey (EU, 2014, 122 min).

Frank Nouchi