Selma (2014)

Academy Awards, USA 2015

Won Oscar	Best Achievement in Music Written for Motion Pictures, Original Song Common (as Lonnie Lynn) John Legend (as John Stephens) Song: "Glory"
Nominated Oscar	Best Motion Picture of the Year Christian Colson Oprah Winfrey Dede Gardner Jeremy Kleiner

Paramount Pictures
Directed by Ava DuVernay
My rating: 3 stars out of 4
IMDb
(Blu-ray, Paramount)

Martin Luther King and friends travel to a small Alabama town to confront a racist sheriff and the governor of the state. They organize a march from Selma to the state capitol of Montgomery 50 miles away. They are ambushed by police in riot gear just outside of town, but it is broadcast on live TV and earns sympathy around the country. They try again but with much more people, only to turn around out of fear of a trap. They finally succeed the third time. Against this backdrop MLK tries to convince the president to address voting barriers in the South, worries about the safety of his friends and the public participants and briefly deals with problems in his marriage. It paints in broad strokes but is more or less effective, and sadly more relevant than ever.