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Rescuing Martin Luther King

With "Selma" (PG-13, Paramount), director Ava DuVernay has created a stirring, uncannily timely drama that works on several levels. It's an impressive historic pageant, but DuVernay has also rescued the Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. from his role as a worshiped, sentimentalized secular saint. The most riveting passages of "Selma," which chronicles three marches King led from Selma to Montgomery, Ala., in 1965, can be found in the meetings between King (David Oyelowo) and President Lyndon Johnson (Tom Wilkinson) as they argued about voting rights. Extras include a music video of the Oscar-winning "Glory" featuring John Legend and Common.

washington post