Martin Luther King Jr. (David Oyelwo) urges passage of the Voting Rights Act, overturning Southern poll taxes. He gets a cold response from President Lyndon Johnson (Tom Wilkinson), who's more concerned with his War on Poverty. King alights for Selma, Alabama where a controversy over poll taxes generates tension; he proposes a march to the State capitol at Montgomery. Alabama Governor George Wallace (Tim Roth) determines to stop King, leading to bloodshed at the Edmund Pettus Bridge. King and his confidantes regroup for a second march, becoming a cause celebre as the violent images spread throughout the country.
Though Selma starts with familiar imagery of Civil Rights marches and Southern bigots, its focus is refreshingly head-on. Paul Webb's script portrays tensions within the movement. The radical Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee resents King's SCLC as interlopers; John Lewis (Stephan James) splits with SNCC by supporting the Selma March. Malcolm X (Nigel Thatch), humbled by his visit to Mecca, proposes King more palatable. King's supporters debate the wisdom of provoking confrontation with heavily-armed whites: is the human cost worth the moral victory?
Selma crackles to life blending these big-picture concerns with everyday humiliation and feckless violence. The County registrar bars Annie Lee Cooper (Oprah Winfrey) from voting because she can't name every county judge in Alabama. Activists black and white are murdered with impunity; one affecting has King comforting an elderly man (Henry G. Sanders) who watched police shoot his son. Governor Wallace is an intriguingly craft villain: he abhors open violence while authorizing a night time "murder raid" against demonstrators.
Selma doesn't avoid the usual biopic pitfalls, namely prettifying its protagonist. Discussion of King's womanizing is restricted to one oblique scene; Coretta Scott King's (Carmen Ejogo) mostly present to bolster her husband, never becoming a full-fledged character. Lyndon Johnson's portrayed as indifferent or hostile to Civil Rights until King forces his hand, a gross distortion of LBJ's beliefs. At a low point it makes Johnson responsible for FBI efforts at intimidating King by phone harassment and poison pen letters.
DuVerna's direction is equally uneven. She does well evoking the time period, and more straightforward confrontations like the courthouse scenes and King's jailhouse conversations are well-handled. The bigger the stakes however, the sloppiness shows through. The movie's big set piece, the Pettus Bridge confrontation, becomes a flurry of overdone slow motion and quick cutting that undercuts its effectiveness. Similarly, the conceit of FBI memos acting as onscreen commentary serves little purpose: if the intent's irony it doesn't come off.
David Oyelowo assayed supporting roles in Rise of the Planet of the Apes, Lincoln and The Butler before now: this should be a breakout role. Besides his physical resemblance to King (he reportedly gained 30 pounds for the role), Oyelowo does remarkable job evoking the man. His measured delivery, focused anger and powerful gestures make King come to life in a truly great sense: this isn't just the figure from textbooks and TV commercials, but an engaging hero. This is a remarkable performance; it's inexplicable Oyelowo didn't earn an Oscar nod.
Tom Wilkinson makes LBJ equal parts conflicted idealist and crafty politician. Carmen Ejogo is mostly backgrounded, though she nails her big scene. Tim Roth's slimy George Wallace and Dylan Baker's arrogant J. Edgar Hoover make strong impressions with little screen time. DuVerna's deep cast contribute effectively: Stephan James, Ruben Santiago-Hudson and Common as King's allies; Giovanni Ribisi as Johnson's aide Lee White; Stephen Root as an Alabama State Trooper. There are brief cameos for Oprah Winfrey, Cuba Gooding Jr. and an unbilled Martin Sheen.
Cynics will ask why we need another racism-themed drama. One, because the issues Selma explores aren't dead, as recent events have tragically shown. Two, because so few of the extant films explore the issues directly, preferring white protagonists, marginal figures or flamboyant outsiders. Why did it take Martin Luther King 20 years longer to get a biopic than Malcolm X? Selma isn't a perfect movie, but it's probably as good a King biopic as Hollywood can produce.