She never again has to remind us that reality – depending on who, when and where you are – can morph into a nightmare. We know DuVernay is capable of shocking tonal shifts. Its impact hovers like a dark cloud over everything that follows, giving scenes that might otherwise have felt lighter and nimbler an unspoken urgency. This moment of visceral impact is unmatched by anything else in the remaining two and a bit hours. Still graded in oranges and warm hues, the scene morphs into close ups of legs rotating through the frame – as if the victims are drowning – before cutting to a birds eye shot of bodies toppled by rubble. The tranquility of the scene is blown to smithereens when a pretty girl’s words are cut short by a massive bomb blast. A prestige picture not just handsomely shot (rich looking aesthetic is par for the course in the ‘For Your Consideration’ genre) but dramatically understated. Less than five minutes in, the tone correctly implies we are about to watch a film of deep dignity and purpose. Girls exchange innocuous chatter about haircuts. Their hands run down the banister as they glide past intricate leadlights. biopic Selma takes place at the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize ceremony, where the late civil rights activist accepts the highest accolade of his life.ĭuVernay doesn’t make too much of it: we’re in the room for only half a minute or so and barely see the audience’s standing ovation before the words of Luther’s speech (“what the illusion of supremacy has destroyed the truth of equality can nourish…”) are overlaid onto vision of well-dressed African American children descending a staircase tinged in beautiful golden light emanating from the window. One of the first scenes in director Ava DuVernay’s Martin Luther King Jnr.
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