MLK/FBI

"MLK/FBI" is a decent overview of the FBI's surveillance and efforts to ruin Martin Luther King and, by extension, also does a fair job of summarizing some of the civil rights leader's achievements. Although some of the archival footage employed for the documentary's expository mode looks newfound and, reportedly, is based on some recently declassified documents, there isn't much if anything new discussed here.

I'm not an expert on King, but I've read about him over the years, seen other documentaries, visited the hotel-turned-museum where he was assassinated, and it's a challenge to point to one new thing in this doc that I learned. Generally, it's what anyone with even a passing recreational interest in 1950s-1960s American history would already know. Maybe there aren't any other documentaries that focus primarily on this angle, though, so I'll rate it positively for that. One may check out "King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis" (1970), for instance, if they want a grander overview of King's activities, and there've been many others, along with documentaries about Hoover and the FBI. We even have biopics such as "J. Edgar" (2011) and "Selma" (2014). In the end, the desire is palpable to release the FBI tapes already that are scheduled to be unsealed in 2027 (which talk about arbitrary), as at least then there'd be new material for the historians and documentarians to work with.

Otherwise, as it is, too much time is wasted here musing over King's sex life. Yes, he had extramarital relations; move on. I read about that and mentioned it in a biographical speech I delivered back in secondary school; it's not a revelation. The most scandalous "new" item, I suppose, is the FBI's rape accusation, but there's nothing really to say about such a claim from the racist organization that was out to ruin the man if there's no evidence available to substantiate it. The filmmakers could've used the same tact here that they offered J. Edgar Hoover, for whom they only hint photographically of his rumored homosexuality and never mention the more dubious claims of transvestism.

The commentary on the FBI's actions against the civil rights movement is better, including contextualizing it as part of mainstream American white supremacism of the era. Perhaps, not enough credence is given to the fact that the FBI, however, was part of a federal government where administrations were offering support for civil rights out of one side of their mouth and eventually legislatively at the same time as they were approving Hoover's surveillance and intimidation campaign. Conspiracy theories regarding the FBI's involvement (or at least willful negligence) in King's murder are largely glossed over, too.

As an introduction or overview, "MLK/FBI" does well enough, as I said, though. Plus, I like the archival footage approach with the voiceover exposition as opposed to talking-head interviews. Fortunately, I recognized some of the film clips shown, for which the identification here was inconsistent. "The FBI Story" (1959), for example, gets a caption, but not, as far as I noticed at least, "The Birth of a Nation" (1915) or "The March" (1963). Even if I saw the narrators' faces, however, I wouldn't really know who most of them are, although hearing James Comey remark on what he considers the most shameful aspect of the agency's history (the letter basically attempting to blackmail King into suicide) is interesting, to say the least. But, that's a whole other doc on bureau shenanigans.

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.

"The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy." MLK

It's shocking to hear in the eye-opening documentary MLK/FBI William Sullivan, the FBI's director of domestic intelligence, encourage Martin Luther King, Jr. to commit suicide. The theme of the doc is that the agency, under J Edgar Hoover's direction, from 1955.was dedicated to bringing down King and the Civil Rights Movement.

Although the animosity was known even in the 60's, the doc does a credible job showing this aggressiveness was a part of the mid-century paranoia dominated by the fear of communism and perhaps mirrored it. In this case, the agency, like Joe McCarthy, had little evidence of the subjects' undemocratic tactics but probably was motivated more by the fear of losing influence to liberal protestors or lonely anarchists.

Mixing archival footage of King parading and snippets from his famous speeches, director Sam Pollard gives a fluid narrative to otherwise discursive material. To his credit, talking heads are at a minimum as he emphasizes the growing concern that King was being targeted to go down.

That plot was notoriously supported by ample evidence of King's philandering, mainly in hours of tapes with his women, not his wife, from wiretapping to photos. The actual auditory evidence will be released in 2027, and the ballyhoo will probably be disappointing because he did his good while he was doing his bad, and the good he did for civil rights and Black people far outweighs infidelities to his estimable wife and puritanical white folk.

MLK/FBI could have profited from discussion of his influence and flaws and how the latter might have been better served by expert analysis about their importance. That he was an appetitive man, at least in regards to women, was known before this documentary; that he was a powerful player in the freedom of his own people and other repressed minorities, will redound through history.

MLK/FBI will remind you in important evidence that like JFK, MLK was destined to change a nation and lose a young life in return. I never tire of remembering true heroes.

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.