Reviews for this film from our members:
- Marco Albanese @ Stanze di Cinema [Italian]
- Excerpt: E’ vero che King era un rivoluzionario moderato e non violento e che rispetto a Malcolm X, la sua era una battaglia di integrazione e non di rivolta al sistema, ma certo la DuVernay avrebbe potuto avere più coraggio nella messa in scena.
- Marina Antunes @ Row Three
- Rick Aragon @ Rick’s Cafe Texan
- Excerpt: I wouldn’t go so far as to say Selma is ‘an important film’. I will say that Selma is a well-acted, well-directed, well-crafted film, one that gives us both the historic and the personal of the figures we see.
- José Arce @ LaButaca.net [Spanish]
- Excerpt: Arrollador recuerdo de Ava DuVernay de una de las figuras más relevantes del siglo XX, un batallador incansable que desgraciadamente tuvo que dedicar su vida entera a luchar porque algo tan nimio como el color de la piel no marcara la diferencia.
- Jason Bailey @ Flavorwire
- Excerpt: Selma’ is the year’s best film because it is great filmmaking — DuVernay makes history live and breathe and vibrate. But it is also more than just a dramatization, or a relic; as its strangely timely release suggests, none of this is as historical as we’d like to think.
- David Bax @ Battleship Pretension
- Excerpt: Selma is not really a film about individuals at all but a moving portrait of ideals, community and how those things can nourish one another. By having a strong connection to the present day, DuVernay illustrates that humanity as a whole is a continuous organism and ideas are ropes of living matter that flow from person to person and from generation to generation.
- Nicholas Bell @ Ioncinema
- Tim Brayton @ Antagony & Ecstasy
- Frederic and Mary Ann Brussat @ Spirituality & Practice
- Excerpt: A stirring and enlightening movie about civil rights leader Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., and his crusade for equality.
- Samuel Castro @ Ochoymedio.info [Spanish]
- Excerpt: Un episodio histórico fielmente retratado, que se convierte también en una reflexión sobre la solidaridad.
- Bill Clark @ From The Balcony
- Excerpt: Selma is one of the great emotional experiences of recent years; a fiercely powerful look at one of the Civil Rights Movement’s greatest victories.
- Laura Clifford @ Reeling Reviews
- Excerpt: [DuVernay’s] shot her climax on the Edmund Pettus Bridge as if its a soaring cathedral, King’s followers buttressed by white clergy. “Selma’s” current relevance cannot be overstated.
- Tony Dayoub @ Cinema Viewfinder
- Excerpt: SELMA is absorbing, measured, and eloquent, much like the man at its center.
- Carlos del Río @ El rincón de Carlos del Río [Spanish]
- Excerpt: Gran película.
- Michael Dequina @ The Movie Report
- Jim Dixon @ Examiner.com
- Mark Dujsik @ Mark Reviews Movies
- Excerpt: While the film is a thoroughly engrossing portrayal of politics in its most rudimentary shape, it is also a rousing representation of the concept of democracy at its best and most potent.
- James Jay Edwards @ FilmFracture
- Excerpt: Selma’ Takes A Powerful Look Into The Life Of A Great Man
- Candice Frederick @ Reel Talk Online
- Susan Granger @ www.susangranger.com
- Excerpt: Inspiring and impassioned, delivering Dr. King’s reverberating message of perserverance…
- Mark Hobin @ Fast Film Reviews
- Excerpt: Indeed the first march ends with 600 peaceful citizens attacked by state and local police with batons and tear gas. It’s a galvanizing scene of epic proportions.
- Blake Howard @ Graffiti with Punctuation
- MaryAnn Johanson @ FlickFilosopher.com
- Excerpt: A magnificent film, vital and alive, with the most profound sense of immediacy I think I’ve ever felt in a historical story.
- Charlie Juhl @ Citizen Charlie
- Excerpt: We know now where everyone ended up in the history books and who was on the right side of history and who did everything in their power to stand in its way. Bravo to Selma the film and director Ava DuVernay who finally stepped up to the plate to bring us such a pivotal moment in our history.
- Jeremy Kibler @ The Artful Critic
- Excerpt: A poignant, reverberating reflection of how far we have come but how far we still have to go, “Selma” never oversells its importance, nor does it ever mute its voice.
- Oktay Kozak @ Oregon Herald
- Kristen Lopez @ Awards Circuit
- Excerpt: Ava DuVernay’s MLK biopic is a passionate example of expert filmmaking…
- Wesley Lovell @ Cinema Sight
- Excerpt: Setting out to do a film about one of the most important figures of the 20th Century carries with it a great deal of responsibility. Ava DuVernay takes a single segment of the life of Martin Luther King Jr. and brings it to impressive life.
- Dan Lybarger @ KCActive.com
- Excerpt: Selma manages to present Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. as a human being instead of a marble statute. Thanks to a mesmerizing performance from British actor David Oyelowo (Interstellar), the Civil Rights struggle becomes urgent as it was in 1965.
- Alan Mattli @ Facing the Bitter Truth [German]
- Excerpt: Selma’ is reminiscent of Lee Daniels’ unsuccessful ‘The Butler’ in that it displays history rather than vivifying it – though DuVernay’s film is clearly the superior work, sporting more impressive performances and a better overall focus.
- Mike McGranaghan @ The Aisle Seat
- Excerpt: An unforgettable movie experience. David Oyelowo gives the performance of the year.
- Brent McKnight @ The Last Thing I See
- Excerpt: Powerful and stirring, often grim and infuriating, but also incredibly hopeful and engaging, “Selma” is a movie you need to see. It leaves you shaken and moved.
- Simon Miraudo @ Quickflix
- Darren Mooney @ the m0vie blog
- Excerpt: It’s good to be the King.
- Pat Mullen @ Cinemablographer
- Excerpt: Selma is a period piece, but it looks and feels like a window to today. As the film resonates with a seamless fusion of past and present, it gives the viewer the sense of going from being a passive observer to an active participant.
- Stefan Pape @ HeyUGuys
- João Pinto @ Portal Cinema [Portuguese]
- Jonathan Richards @ www.jonrichardsplace.com
- Excerpt: Oyelowo gives us an MLK in whom quiet, deep religious and social conviction triumphs over human doubts and weaknesses. If he occasionally falls just short of the soaring eloquence that stirred a nation to examine its conscience, he comes close.
- Jerry Roberts @ Armchair Cinema
- Excerpt: A well made bit of history seen through the eyes of its most famous leader.
- Tom Santilli @ Examiner.com
- Excerpt: When Selma focuses on the march, on the struggles of blacks and the uphill battle that they took on to earn their rights, it is an amazing achievement…the sort of film that inspires you to take action and reminds you that change is possible.
- Frank Swietek @ One Guys Opinion
- Excerpt: Compelling docu-drama [that] can serve as a valuable educational tool, but is first and foremost an emotionally powerful narrative.
- Sarah Ward @ artsHub
