On that day, hundreds of black marchers set out to walk all the way to Montgomery (Alabama's capitol) to protest their inability to vote. After they crossed the Pettus bridge in Selma they were stopped by Alabama state troopers who beat them and sprayed them with tear gas. And history records that Martin Luther King Jr eventually led the successful march, which included people from all over the United States, white and black.
Selma (2014) is all about how these events took place, with a special focus on Dr. King's crucial leadership role. David Oyellowo, who was very good in The Help (2011), embodies Dr. King and is exceptional. The actress who plays his wife Corretta is also really good.
I think the best kinds of movies entertain and educate at the same time. Selma is such a movie for me, one I want to experience again. It not only impresses me visually with the period sets/costumes and striking cinematography, but it also inspires me to read more and learn more about this part of America's history, and the many people that are portrayed in the film, such as the character Oprah Winfrey plays, a woman who is denied the right to vote in a humiliating way.
Selma was only nominated for two Oscars, but I thought it should have earned at least two more for its lead actor and for its director (Ava DuVernay) who does a commendable job of bringing these events to life.
Though it wasn't showered with Oscars, I do think this film will be viewed again in the years and decades to come and will be remembered as not only one of one of the best films of 2014, but one of the best films about the civil rights movement in the 1960s.