The 1964 Civil Rights Act has legally desegregated the South, but you still did not want to be a black man or woman in SELMA Alabama.

For those of you, who weren’t paying attention in History class, George Wallace (the very fine, Tim Roth) was the Governor of Alabama and the dude was a first class bigot. This made it very easy for the police force to behave abusively and violently toward the black population…And that’s exactly what they did every chance they got. But they weren’t the only ones in Selma that behaved in a hateful way.

You see even, though the black population outnumbered whitefolk in Selma, the last thing these ‘good old boys’ wanted, was to give black people the right to vote. With the help of the County Register, along with other voter officials, they made it impossible for any black man or woman to register to vote. One of the most powerful scenes is watching, a black woman, Annie Lee Cooper (Oprah Winfrey) attempt to register.

But let’s go back to the beginning. The film opens with Martin Luther King (the fantastic David Oyelowo), winning the Nobel Peace prize. At the same time, the excellent director, Miss Ava DuVernay cuts to four children getting blown to pieces in a church in Selma. This sets the stage for the climate that existed in 1965 in this Alabama town and it’s here, that King decides to stage the next battle for equality.

Selma at the time, was run by a fat, dumb as shit, racist sheriff, named Bull Connor and King knows that there will be violent response to a march he’s planning. This is one of the scenes that is so hard to watch. Helpless men, women and children attempting to march from Selma to Montgomery as the police respond with whips, batons and guns.

‘Selma’ not only reminds of a time in history that’s hard to believe existed, but it also shows us the politics that took place behind the scenes in order to pass the Voters Right Law. The scenes between King and L.B.J. (Tom Wilkinson) are fascinating. Johnson tries to convince King that this is not the right time for him to push to get this law passed before congress. Johnson tells King that he’s too busy dealing with Vietnam along with his ‘war on poverty’.and he needs time. But no matter how many times Johnson rebuffs him, King does not give up.

‘Selma’ is a beautiful, powerful, intense and brilliantly acted film about courage, that everyone, no matter what your age, should see. Miss DuVernay has created an emotional, uplifting film that shows us, no matter how many setbacks a person experiences, they should never stop fighting for what is right.

The cast across the board is excellent, including the British actress, Carmen Ejogo who plays Coretta, King’s wife that has to keep it togethe despite knowing about her husband’s infidelities, Cuba Gooding Jr.(civil rights lawyer, Fred Gray) Giovanni Ribisi as Johnson’s aid, Martin Sheen as federal district court judge, Frank Johnson, Dylan Baker (J. Edgar Hoover) Lorraine Toussaint (Amelia Boynton, Common (James Bevel) Wendell Pierce as Reverend Hosea Williams, and the wonderful Nigel Thatch as Malcom X.

Watching this film, one can’t help but wonder how far have we really come in treating all people equally. All you have to do is think about Ferguson, New York City and Florida, and you realize…not far enough.

‘Selma’ written by Paul Webb opens in theatres, Christmas Day, December 25, 2014 and I can’t think of a better way to spend the holiday. I gave ‘Selma’ my highest bagel score..five out of five with the works. Check out the Two Jews On Film video for more of my ramblings.