Selma Critical Response

“WE MUST MAKE A MASSIVE DEMONSTRATION!”

-Martin Luther King Jr., Selma

Director Ava DuVernay brings to AC’s screens the unbelievable true story of Martin Luther King Jr.’s campaign to secure equal voting rights with an epic march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama in 1965. Mind you, this is not the full story of MLK, but DuVernay does capture a monumental moment in the icon’s short-lived life.

Below we have collected critical response to Selma from the best critics in the nation.

Richard Roeper, Chicago Sun-Times

“The British actor David Oyelowo, who bears a passing physical resemblance to King, does a magnificent job of inhabiting the character without it ever devolving into impersonation. Oyelowo’s King is deeply spiritual and highly motivated, but he’s no saint. ‘Selma’ doesn’t gloss over King’s many infidelities; in fact, his indiscretions become a major plot point in the film, with Coretta Scott King (Carmen Ejogo) telling her husband he needs to get his house in order, and if that means taking a break from changing the world, so be it.”

Ann Hornaday, Washington Post

“’Selma’ carries viewers along on a tide of breathtaking events so assuredly that they never drown in the details or the despair, but instead are left buoyed. The civil rights movement and its heroes aren’t artifacts from the distant past, but messengers sent on an urgent mission for today. There are several reasons to see ‘Selma’ — for its virtuosity and scale, scope and sheer beauty. But then there are its lessons, which have to do with history, but also today. ‘Selma’ invites viewers to heed its story, meditate on its implications and allow those images once again to change our hearts and minds.”

Kenneth Turan, Los Angeles Times

“DuVernay's intimate style helps in her successful attempt to humanize King, his wife, Coretta Scott King (a deft Carmen Ejogo), and his circle of advisers and comrades in arms, to see them not as monumental icons but, rather, real people with personal lives and problems. Given what they accomplished, ‘Selma’ can't help but mythologize this group as well, but it is a low-key mythologization rather than the bombastic sort.”

See the Film

Rejoice in one of the top rated films of the year at Omaha’s favorite theatre Aksarben Cinema and please check us out on Facebook for more information on Selma and all our upcoming releases. See you at the movies!