Historical drama movies have been around as long as movies have and they have always offered to its audience, in a varying degree, a real event that happened on this earth. They have tried to tell those real significant stories, emotions and events as accurately as they can in a film medium.

That means a lot of things, that means negotiating a tight runtime, that means dramatization and that means telling a good story while staying true to the real story. That’s a lot of work and juggling for one movie.

Selma is an interesting case in that, it is a movie about Martin Luther King Jr.'s peaceful march from Selma, Alabama to the state capital and it occurs after a lot of the work had been done by Dr. King. It is hard to tell a good story when most of the story is already done, but to deal with it is a necessity, it’s one of the most important marches and it makes for an inspiring, sometimes startling but strong film.

Thankfully, Selma passes most of these obstacles with near grace. The movie does this by building up to the actual march basically it’s entire runtime. It essentially sums the story and struggle of the actions and events that happened before the march and by the time Dr. King’s last speech starts, you’re completely sold on the film. You’re emotionally invested and you want to see these people get their vote and that’s what makes it an inspiring powerful movie.

Certain things did distract me, I did say it passed with near grace. For one, director Ava DuVernay’s decision to tell a dramatic real story is helped by the film’s editing which doesn’t let any scene linger too much and pauses and breathes when it needs but on the other hand, her decisions to shoot violent scenes like a Zack Snyder action film doesn’t sit well with me. I was still invested but I feel they didn’t still as hard to me as it did to it’s characters mostly because I was distracted as fuck by too many cuts, jumps and songs being shoved in on top of slow-motion scenes.

That’s about all for my complaints. I loved the acting, you really see Martin Luther King Jr. in David Oyelowo’s performance and the way he enacts King’s speech. I mean to be honest I have never seen the actual man or his speeches but I was sold that this guy, this actor is him. Everyone else either shines or gets glossed over, a natural thing to happen with too big a cast like this. I wish we got more screentime for King’s colleagues but it is what it is. The music despite my previous complains, is brilliant for the most part. The inclusion of country folk songs as a whole is a plus for me, it sounds different and it gave a county vibe to the film.

Production design, from costumes to cars to interiors, everything is solid. I liked how they used archival footage and sounds, that really made it feel more tangible.

8.1/10 A beautifully directed, inspiring and well-paced historical drama movie about a protest led by Dr. King. It’s certainly worth watching despite it’s very minor flaws holding it back from being perfect.