It’s only been a few weeks since it’s debut trailer release, but SELMA already has Oscar buzz surrounding the film. SELMA is an American Drama based on the 1965 Selma to Montgomery voting rights march. During the march, three leaders in the Afrikan American community, Martin Luther King jr, James Bevel, and Hosea Williams, along with John Lewis of the student nonviolent coordinating committee lead the people to march for their rights. It was a historic event that changed the lives of millions today. Not only Afrikan Americans, but across many races, cultures, and classes. The march to this day is one of the most powerful examples of non-violent protesting, marching the 54mile highway stretch from Selma to Alabama.
The film stars David Oyelowo as Martin Luther King Jr, whom you may remember from the hit movie “The Butler” playing Louis Gaines, the son of Forest Whitaker’s character Cecil Gaines, the butler. It also stars Oprah Winfrey as Annie Lee Cooper, a civil rights activist known for her historic punch to Selma’s Sheriff Jim Clark, along with rapper/actor, Common who plays James Bevel, one of the leaders in the march, and Wendell Pierce as Hosea Williams, also a leader in the march. With a perfectly matched cast, like Ledisi as Mahalia Jackson, and Cuba Gooding Jr as Fred Gray who was the civil rights attorney in Alabama, and the first Afrikan American president of the Alabama state bar, this movie will certainly be one to watch, remember, teach and watch again!
This is a must see movie! Why you ask? Because many still have no idea who these people are and what Afrikan Americans had to over come to be able to live equally. Voting, segregation, defamation, degradation, abuse, murder, and more our leaders faced it all to make sure we have opportunity. It saddens me that when I go into an elementary school and ask the children ranging from 1st grade to 8th grade or high school from 9th grade even up to 12th grade who Martin Luther King is, and they cannot tell me, or pick him out of a group of photos, I worry. So, this movie is a must see. There should be class trips planned around this film, it should be taught in college. Not just this film, but all of them, don’t you agree? Chile’
Check out the trailer below:
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Yes, we must remember & TEACH…What is forgotten can easily happen again..In less obvious ways & behind the scenes…Kudos to Oprah, again, for being a part of something that can impact millions!