Coming out of Selma I felt a similar way as to when I recently watched The Help, which seems unfair because, despite both films turning up in awards season, Selma feels much more authentic. Both films shocked me by portraying things I knew about but had never really seen or thought about. It was the nature of the shock that perhaps had most impact, it's good that these things are so appalling because it's not that long ago that many more would find them acceptable.
Selma is a better film than The Help, primarily because it doesn't feature a "white saviour" coming to the rescue. There's almost a documentarian feel to the film which helps convey the messages. If there are problems it's perhaps that, like so many documentaries with fascinating subjects, it is the story that carry the film rather than the filmmaking. To say that about Selma takes something away from all the wonderful (and mostly British) performances but that didn't stop me wishing that there was something more special about how the film was put together. It doesn't matter though because the end result is still incredibly effective.
February 22, 2015 at 12:33AM
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