Selma

David Oyelowo stars in Ava DuVernay’s (Middle of Nowhere) thrilling chronicle of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.’s 1965 civil rights march from Selma to Montgomery.

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Ava DuVernay’s expansive historical drama — about Dr. Martin Luther King Jr’s efforts to organize a march across Alabama, from Selma to Montgomery, in support of voting rights — cemented the filmmaker as a force to be reckoned with, both as a storyteller and as an advocate for Black causes. It also gave David Oyelowo a remarkable acting showcase — channelling his considerable charisma and presence into the larger-than-life figure of Dr. King — and surrounded him with a supporting cast of powerhouse players, including Carmen Ejogo as King’s wife Coretta, Colman Domingo as King’s friend and mentor Ralph Abernathy, André Holland as his colleague Andrew Young, and Stephan James as future Georgia Congressman John Lewis. DuVernay orchestrates them all into a chorus of righteous fury, building to a confrontation between marchers and police on the Edmund Pettus Bridge that’s staged as the nightmare it must have been. There aren’t many dramas about history that wind up making history of their own, but Selma pulled it off, becoming the first film directed by a Black woman to be nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture. (It lost to Birdman. Discuss amongst yourselves.)

NORM WILNER

Content advisory: violence, coarse language, sexual situations, mature content