Selma, Lord, Selma

I watched this movie on the Disney Channel recently and was outraged at the portrayal of the murder of the young Episcopal seminarian, Jonathan Daniels. The movie showed him being shot while alone on a side street in Selma. In reality he was killed in Haynesville in an attack on a group of civil rights workers. Jonathan was killed by a shotgun as he pushed Ruby Sales out of the line of fire. A Roman Catholic priest was wounded in the attack. The Disney version does a great injustice to Jonathan's memory and to the herorism of the priest who was wounded.

Charles Burnett's "Killer of Sheep" is a true masterpiece--an unsentimental look at ghetto life, rich in detail, marvelously flirting with an unexpected and regarding nonnarrative structure. "Selma, Lord, Selma" doesn't offer the same joys--it too obviously is a television project, with clearly identifiable "good guys" and "bad guys" and a strong sentimental thrust. Burnett seems to have been forced into removing the subtleties of the historical events he portrays by the limits of working with Disney. In the end, this movie is greatly affecting--it is hard to watch it with dry eyes--but it is not likely to make someone who isn't ignorant of the struggle for civil rights in the U.S. to think about the events in a new light.

I wanted to rent this movie because I am writing a story for pre-teens/teens about some of the struggles of blacks in the 1960s. I was very touched by this movie. All the acting was good, the story, based on truth, was interesting. I really got caught up in the people's lives, feeling their pain and longing, sorrowful (almost crying) at the injustice and mean things many white people did. They gave a good balance, though, by showing the white preacher (Jonathan) who was helping the blacks (he was an actual person). This is a good clean family movie, with some violence, but nothing graphic. It was thought-provoking, too--would I be brave enough to stand up for right in the midst of adversity?

The director's first film Killer of Sheep was amazing. This film I don't know where I stand exactly. It seems to be a bit overly sentimental. I suspect you don't get that much freedom working for Disney and sometimes the more "you're supposed to feel this way" moments actually got pushed so far that they took on a bit of irony and maybe recovered some of their honesty. Maybe their flamboyance was the alienation technique to make you step back and think about what's going on. The music was what drew my attention to this idea. The first time you meet the racist cop the music is kind of silly to a point of seeming self aware. And the really unsubtle and unnatural way Burnett constantly works the word "freedom" into the film. Maybe I'm excusing bad film-making. I don't know.

It wasn't horrible. There was some style. It seemed like a lot of text though, nothing really with any kind of new life. I don't know how I feel about the characters either. I felt like the characters kind of floated through the narrative in a way that didn't let you really get to know them or understand their story. And I kind of hated the white minister, he just came off bossy rather than a person conductive to change (I would have been thinking some one more like Henry Fonda in 12 Angry Men rather than the priest in On The Waterfront (who I also hate :)) maybe that's not who he was but I doubt very much the never-do-wrong guy that made it to the screen wasn't exactly a historical figure either. And were there no poor, African people that maybe took exception to being told to risk their livelihood for civil rights by the moral edict of a caucasian preacher? It seems like maybe there was some missing tension. But maybe that's how it was.

But anyway, a mediocre film by Burnett is still a pretty good film in some ways.

I like how he represented Dr. King. Maybe it wasn't warts and all, but right from the beginning he was a human being. There was no image of worship or him being on a higher plane. He was a man with a struggle and that was more or less it (as much as I suspect the other cooks spoiling the soup would allow).

And it was also a very effecting movie. I'm not a nationalistic person but the image of African people marching for their civil rights holding American flags was very beautiful.

It wasn't a failure but maybe it could have been better, especially considering the director involved.

I admit, I wasn't expecting much when this movie began. I mean, it's a Disney Channel original movie. Those movies are usually horrible! Well, something inside told me to watch it. So, I did. I only watched this a few hours ago. I'm a 90's kid, and I don't really know much about the world before 1990. I finally understand the civil rights movement and how horrible those times were. At some parts, I admit, I just wanted to sob. Because it happened! America was like this in the 1960's! This movie is very emotional and sad, but we could all learn more about the past.

Clifton Powell had me believing that he was Martin Luther King Jr. All of the actors were wonderful and fit their parts well. Selma, Lord, Selma is very underrated by Disney Channel. It brought so many emotions and feelings to me, which rarely happens when I watch movies(especially Disney Channel original movies). So, don't think this movie is like Disney Channel's shows. This movie is for mature audiences, due to mature themes,and some violence. I give Selma, Lord, Selma 10/10 stars. Happy Martin Luther King day!