Reel Reviews

Selma -- An impressive presentation, outstanding performances, and strong, nuanced storytelling make this an exceptional piece of historical movie-making. A most notable feature is the multi-faceted portraits of each of the participants in the narrative; there's some hagiography here, but it is tempered with an honest representation of real characters, faults and all, that adds human dimensions to what otherwise might have been, in less capable hands, a flat, uninteresting work of something near propaganda. Instead we are treated to an effective and ultimately moving history, one that deserves to be viewed on many merits, and which couldn't be more relevant even today, 50 years later.