塞尔玛

Selma是Alabama的一个小镇的名字，是当年马丁·路德·金（MLK）领导的为黑人投票权而游行的起始地，是The Voting Rights Act （投票权法案）这一关键联邦法律的得到通过的动力之一。这部片子的上映实在是不能再合时宜了。首先是以John Roberts为首的最高法院在几个月前废除了The Voting Rights Act里面几个关键的条例，其理由竟然是盲目的“现在南方各州已无种族压迫或歧视，少数种族的人们已不再需要联邦法保护。” 接着是不断涌现的无辜黑人公民被警察草率处决的事件（Michael Brown，Eric Garner），以及纽约的两位警察刚刚被谋杀的事件。纷纷上街的人数逐渐增加，而改变的前景却不容乐观。人们很迷惘很沮丧。美国的人权的现况在明显的倒退。在太平洋的另一边，一场小火也奄奄一息。

Selma及时的出现了，在大荧幕上带领我们回到了那个媒体技术刚刚起步的时代，一个人们冒着生命危险上街的时代。它在大处讲述了MLK 为了呼吁国会通过保护黑人投票权的法案而做出的台前幕后的努力，从小处也对事件一些关键当事人——MLK及他的妻子，总统LBJ，Alabama州长George Wallace，当时随MLK游行的现任国会议员John Lewis等等——进行了聚焦，不仅刻骨展现了演讲、游行造势、以及警方残暴镇压的大场面，也非常生动的刻画了不同立场的各方（MLK的非暴力运动、学生领袖们、Malcolm X领导的暴力反抗组织、LBJ的白宫、Alabama的GW和Selma的警长）之间的政治纠葛。这部电影非常精彩，进电影院的时候眼睛很累，进了之后才发现自己买的是IMAX第二排，庆幸的是电影院很人性化，第二排离荧幕有足够的距离，电影从头到尾都吸引人，眼泪也让眼珠更舒服了些，看着看着就一点都不累了。

整部电影的演员表其实非常强大，但它却是不声不响的来到美国大众面前的。

David Oyelowo饰演MLK，让我一时记不起真正的MLK的外表和谈吐是怎样的了。他并没有特别细致的临摹MLK，但是他在演讲中的感染力和气势都有MLK的灵魂，也让我听到了以前不曾察觉的愤怒。而在一些台下的戏里，他对于小细节的处理也非常逼真，使得MLK成为了一个生动的人，而没有停留于一个高大上的印象。

George Wallace竟然是Tim Roth饰演的，一上来我有些吃惊，但是他将这个人物的可恨演得非常成功，他的台词说的也很好，有些荒唐的台词让人不得不笑。

Tom Wilkinson饰演的这个版本的LBJ也很好。电影中将LBJ总统刻画成了法案推进中的阻力之一：电影中投票权并不是他的首要政治议题和目标，他觉得MLK的运动阻碍了他的议程，是在MLK不断的批评和激励之下才最终发表演说支持他。这可能不符合史实，我认为如果可以将LBJ更积极参与的一面放进剧本，电影的意义可能更大，尤其是当今民族融合出现裂痕的时候。但剧本要造势也是情有可原。无论如何，Wilkinson出色的完成了饰演这个版本的总统的任务，将LBJ口无遮拦满嘴脏话让人发笑的一面、以及他在政治上的立场和他对立法困境的头痛都表现了出来。我看完并没有觉得LBJ是不想立法，是他真的没有足够的筹码，而最终还是MLK给他增加了筹码。

小配角们的表演也很好，制片人Oprah 饰演一个没有多少词的想要投票却投不了的小角色，她出镜的第一场戏从让人紧张到让人愤怒，非常动人。饰演小配角的有大牌（比如Cuba Gooding Jr.饰演一个只有两场戏的律师，Martin Sheen也只演一个在那两场戏里出现的法官，Dylan Baker演J. Edgar Hoover，还有Rapper Common、The Wire的Wendell Pierce等等），也有小牌（Marmen Ejogo饰演MLK妻子Correta，Stephan James演现任议员John Lewis、Short Term 12的Keith Stanfield饰演Jimmie Lee Jackson）。所有这些人的表演都值得尊重。

影片的感情很充沛，如果不反抗的话，两行泪迹是免不了的。但同时剧本里也有些让人发笑的台词和情节，有时眼泪还没干就哈哈大笑了。影片激发的感动是超越了种族的，因为影片中既不过度向自由派白人鞠躬，也不忽视超越种族的信仰的力量。它使人感动的不仅仅是演说和压迫的大场面，它将片中人物的伤心、恐惧、愤怒、坚定、决心统统的传播给你，让人感受到的是那份对自由和平等的向往，对无理强权的绝望和抗争，对现实的反思，以及跟荧幕上角色和自己周围的观众对于一种信念的分享和彼此的精神拥抱。虽然少数场景中犯了用音乐告诉你应该怎么感受的老毛病，但整体上观众还是有不加烹饪的、赤裸裸的情感反馈的。这不仅是一部让自由派的人很受激励、让种族歧视的人很愤怒的感情造势上很成功的电影，它还是一部纯粹的好电影。

那些当年说Fruitvale Station是liberal propaganda的人，其中有些可能也饶不过这部影片。但他们忽略了Fruitvale要讲的是什么，忽略了此片要讲的是什么。有些人出国几年，听了一些美国极右派的论点，觉得正好可以扶持自己的偏见和恐惧，便马上采纳将自己武装起来，哪里可以出头就去哪里叫两句。如今这种行为已经不再新鲜，已经让人觉得无聊了。

我去的这场放映非常有意思，现场黑人居多，白人也有，我这种亚洲人也不少。电影一开场第一句话，我就没听到，因为坐在我前面第一排的一黑人小姑娘不能克制的哈哈大笑起来。除非一位刚进来的老爷爷摸黑坐到了她的大腿上，我想不到任何她这样笑的理由。而电影进行中Tim Roth出场的一刹那，她又发起了诡异的大笑，貌似还笑得喘不上气了。我不认识这个女孩，姑且把她当成所谓帮倒忙的队友，为种族歧视提供借口的那种队友，但其实我们每一种团体里都能找到这种队友。在她第二次大笑的时候，我正前方的一位老人一个箭步冲到她面前，指着她说，“小姐，我等了几十年就为了看这部电影，你最好给我安静点”，马上让她闭了嘴。影片结束，伴着Common和John Legend的新曲Glory（歌词里还提到Ferguson）老人振臂举起左拳，并在结束后起立面对观众高呼：“记住Michael Brown，记住Eric Garner，我们的游行还没有结束！” 我不了解这个老人，但我愿意相信他代表了某种脊梁，任何一个团体也都需要这种脊梁。

影片要大家做的其实很简单，而且其实在重复几十年前To Kill A Mockingbird里面告诉大家的东西：

You never really understand a person until you consider things from his point of view... Until you climb inside of his skin and walk around in it. （除非你站在另一个人的立场上想问题，你永远无法理解她…你得穿上她的皮肤走上两遭。）

同情心和同理心——这就是电影让我们去拥抱的。因为有些时候，套用电影The Interview里那句无厘头的真理——"They Hate Us 'Cuz They Ain't Us. (他们恨我们就因为他们不是我们)."

这个道理讲了几十年，却依然需要讲，就说明Selma这部电影是有存在的必要性的。

Response to Selma

          Last week, I went to see the movie Selma in the theater. The reason I went to watch this movie is not because I wanted to watch it, but because I needed to get the extra credit for my EWRT 2 English class. Before I went to the theater, I watched the trailer of this movie, so I basically knew that this movie was about Martin Luther King, Jr. I only knew a little bit about Martin Luther King, Jr., who was the leader in the African-American Civil Rights Movement and delivered his famous “I have a Dream” speech. I guessed that the movie might be about what happened before and after Martin Luther King, Jr.’s famous speech. After watching the movie, I was surprised because this movie talked more about the speech, and it made me feel touched since it talked about the conflicts, struggles, and feelings of people. I think Selma is an amazing and meaningful movie to watch because of its story, actors, and emotion.
          The story of this movie talked about how African American people fought for their voting right and freedom by expressing conflicts between different positions of people and feelings of them, so I think this movie is a meaningful movie. In the movie, it basically talked about how Martin Luther King, Jr. appealed to Congress to pass the bill in order to protect the voting right of African American people. Besides, the movie showed a few main characters of the movement in the past, such as, Martin Luther King, Jr., his wife, the thirty-sixth president of the United States, Lyndon B. Johnson, and the governor of Alabama, George Wallace, etc. There were scenes that were showing speeches, demonstrations, and the brutal repressions of police. In addition, there were political conflicts between many different groups of people, such as Martin Luther King, Jr.’s non-violent movement, leaders of students, the President Lyndon B. Johnson’s white house, Alabama’s governor George Wallace, and the police of Selma. Since this movie talks about African Americans fought for their freedom and the right to vote, which is an important political history to Americans; also, people should watch this movie and learn more about Martin Luther King, Jr. and his movement.
          Selma not only has a good story, but also has a group of amazing actors who tried their best to successfully act their characters. David Oyelowo is the actor who played the role of Martin Luther King, Jr. I do not know how the real Martin Luther King, Jr. looks like. Even though Oyelowo did not particularly copy Martin Luther King, Jr., the way that he gave out the speech had the feeling and momentum of the real Martin Luther King, Jr. Also, Oyelowo really focused on some small details of Martin Luther King, Jr., which made me feel like that Oyelowo was exactly the Martin Luther King, Jr. in the movie. Moreover, Tim Roth played the role of the governor of Alabama, George Wallace. Also, Roth played this character successfully, and some words that he said make me laugh. Besides, the version of Tom Wilkinson’s President Lyndon B. Johnson is very good (“Selma (2014) Full Cast & Crew”). In the movie, President Lyndon B. Johnson became one of resistance of the bill advancing because the movie showed that the right to vote was not his primary political issues and goals, and he thought that Martin Luther King, Jr.’s movement hindered his agenda. However, he started to support what Martin Luther King, Jr. did and said after hearing the criticism and encouragement from Martin Luther King, Jr. In my opinion, Wilkinson did a great job of playing his version of President Lyndon B. Johnson. I think the President actually wanted to pass the legislation, but he did not have enough power to do it, and Martin Luther King, Jr. gave him the power or enlarged his power to pass the bill. Furthermore, there were a lot of powerful supporting actors, such as the film producer Oprah played a supporting character who wanted to vote, but could not vote in the movie. Also, Cuba Gooding Jr. acted a lawyer who only showed up twice in the movie. Even though there are many famous actors who played supporting characters in the movie, I think they did a good job to expressing each character’s emotions, and I respect them. Therefore, this movie Selma has a group of powerful and famous actors, and they all did a good job to perform in this movie.
          The movie Selma is an amazing movie, and it made a lot of people feel touched. When I went into the theater, there were a lot of African Americans and a few white people, and there were some Asian people like me. I could not pay my attention at the beginning of the movie because an African American little girl who sat in the front row kept laughing. When Tim Roth showed up at the scene, she laughed even harder than before. I did not know this girl, and I had no idea what she laughed about. Suddenly, I heard an old man walked up to her and said to the little girl, “Little girl, you better be quiet. I have been waiting this movie for many years.” I could feel how much the old man cared about this movie, and I knew that he really wanted to watch this movie carefully and intently. Also, I was glad that the little girl did not laugh again, so I could pay my attention on the movie. After two and a half hours, the movie ended with John Legend’s new song Glory, which was a nice song because I think this song helped me understand the feelings of the movie better. Suddenly, I saw the old man stood up, and he said out loud, “Remember Michael Brown, Remember Eric Garner. Our parade is not over yet.” I did not know this old man, and I did not really pay attention to what he said about. I thought this movie encouraged him something. Later, I did some research about what the old man said, and I found out that the two names that he mentioned were two African Americans who were dead because of some unfair reasons. Therefore, this movie made people sympathy because some people knew the feeling of inequality of people of color; also, I am an Asian, and some white people have treated me unfairly or looked down at me.
          This amazing movie not only made people touched, but also made me sympathy. In fact, I cried and laughed while I was watching the movie. Sometimes, there were funny scenes and dialogues that made me laugh right after some scenes made me cried. The reason I became sympathy about this movie is not only because of its powerful speech and memorable scenes, but also because I could directly feel the sadness, fear, anger, or determinations of the characters in the movie. I could see the struggles of how people fought for their freedom and equality and the feeling of how they really wanted the right to vote and freedom. Each actor put lots of emotions and effort to perform the characters, and each staff who worked behind the scenes tried their best to produce an amazing movie. Also, the background music helped me a lot to understand the feelings of the scenes. Therefore, staffs and actors put a lot of efforts into the movie, and they produced a wonderful movie that truly expresses the emotions of each character in the movie., which made me touched.
          From my point of view, I think people should go to watch this movie Selma because of its story, a group of powerful actors who accomplished their tasks on performing each character, and a group of staffs who put many efforts into the movie. This movie talked about an important political history that Martin Luther King, Jr. led a group of people to fight for the right to vote and freedom of African American. Also, there were a lot of powerful and famous actors who played main or supporting characters in the movie, and all of them perfectly accomplished their jobs to express each character’s feeling. Furthermore, staffs behind the scenes put music, set up the scenes, and edited the movie in order to make the movie powerful and emotional. Therefore, I think this movie is a very meaningful movie, and we should produce more movies like Selma.


Work Cited
“Selma (2014) Full Cast & Crew” Imdb. IMDb.com, Inc., 2014. Web. 14 March 2015.