Selma's 'Timeliness and Timelessness'

The Brian Lehrer Show | Jan 16, 2015

In his review of 'Selma', the critic Wesley Morris wrote that what electrifies the film is the "chilling convergence of timeliness and timelessness." The movie has been nominated for a best picture Oscar for its portrayal of the months leading up to the announcement of the Voting Rights Act and Martin Luther King Jr.'s planned march from Selma to Montgomery, Alabama. 

In this edition of the Brian Lehrer Show's "Context and a Movie" series we pair a critic and a historian to offer insight on the history and the film.

Wesley Morris, Pulitzer Prize-winning critic and Grantland staff writer, takes the critic's seat. And James T. Patterson, historian and author of (now in paperback) The Eve of Destruction: How 1965 Transformed America (Basic Books, 2014) offers historical context on the events depicted in 'Selma'. 

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