MLK/FBI

This documentary tackles a very interesting part of history. It is a story I don't often see taught in school. It features a lot of big figures is U. S. History. It is the 1960's, we have J. Edgar Hoover, Lydon Johnson and of course, Martin Luther King Jr. Take those characters and put them in the U. S. 1960's setting, with the Civil Rights, Cold and Red Scare. Put all these ingredients together and you have your self a fascinating recipie.

Looking at the situation from the lense of today, it is easy to see that Hoover is acting selfishly and irrationally, but this documentary does a good job of rationalizing his actions, without justifying them.

It is also quaint to remember a time when the FBI needed wiretaps in order to listen in to American's phone calls.

Not much to say, the film does its job well. It informs its audience of an interesting story in an interesting matter.

The film is tightly structured and narrated over archive footage of king, with some other contemporary footage mixed in. In terms of visual material, the film does not bring any new unforseen archive films to the table and a lot of the images used in the film are used several times. With the original sound bites however, the film does a great job in opening the context to the audiences. What the film lacks in new visual material, it gains in its content as it is based on new research of the FBI archives. Great learning material for history or social studies classes.

Very thorough and incredibly detailed account of what we do not know... Infuriating and educational. It saddened me and taught me a lot. I hope everyone will get the chance to see this. How sad that this icon and hero was taken away from this world at such a young age. The world would have been so different had he been able to have lived his full life.

A very thorough documenting of MLK's political activism and attempts by the FBI and others to shut him down for political and ideological reasons.

Using the latest info available on him, it connects all of the dots and reveals his work to bring about equality and his frustrations with the forces who were preventing that.

The FBI begins spying on MLK on suspicion of communist activities and ends up spying on his sex life. It is the disease of the moral watchers. The documentary accurately narrates these espionage activities that move against the defense of human rights. Through well selected archival material, it is a necessary film to show the moral baseness of those who considered themselves protectors of moral integrity. It is the danger of a policy based on constant suspicion.