The movie Selma was an epiphany for me.
But of course I must address the potential Oscar nomination snubbing. Is being considered equally for the Oscar with the American movie industry's majority white films really the goal -- even a good goal? Sure, as a non-actor, I see the desire for talented actors to want to compete with America's current and historically white majority for award recognition.
If I were to deconstruct the goal I would say, Blacks have been overlooked for so long in various spheres that we might believe the real measure of equality is that we are considered in the same breath as whites, in this case in the movie industry. I don't think Asians, Latinos or Native Americans worry about this factor. I'm not sure all white people are capable of relating to Asians, Latinos, Native Americans and Blacks so that they could make an apples to apples comparison of all films. Nor are all of the non-whites listed. Maybe it really is just a white-thing. And maybe some African-Americans are more into some white things than others. I tend to like Hollywood's "low-brow", blockbuster films. I don't care to see or be able to say I've seen the films nominated for an Oscar.
So why was Selma an epiphany for me? I motored to the showing of the film with one thing top of mind. UK-born actor David Oyelowo is playing an African-American icon. Another African-American icon, Coretta Scott King is played by UK-born Carmen Ejogo (Nigerian/Scottish). In fact this is the second time in recent memory a UK-born actor has played a major African-American role, Chiwetel Ejiofor played Solomon Northup in 12 Years a Slave.
Look where we are! That's tremendous. The best actor of African descent. Period. There are many high-quality African films and films about Africans that I've viewed in the past years (The First Grader, Desert Flower, Live and Become, Amandla!: A Revolution in Four-Part Harmony, Invictus). And along with Hollywood and Bollywood, there is Nollywood (Nigeria - a major African film industry).
I need to learn another language to view some of the Nollies.
Watch them. Filmmakers of African descent are coming together. Who needs the Oscars?
