Let's tell it straight – the Motion Picture Academy snubbed "Selma" on Thursday morning, one of the movies this season that seemed to have passion, momentum and the weight of history on its side.
Yes, I know the film won a Best Picture nomination. But it was snubbed in the writing, directing and acting categories. That's a surprise.
Certainly "Selma" is not a perfect film. But few could argue with David Oyelowo's stirring performance as Martin Luther King, Jr. And the screenplay – particularly Ava DuVernay's powerful writing in the absence of the right to use King's actual speeches – was especially worthy.
Also Read: Oscars 2015: The Nominees (Photos)
The Academy missed a chance to nominate an African-American woman director – which would have been a first. Instead it seems "American Sniper" won the attention that "Selma" might have ( Bradley Cooper of "American Sniper" probably took Oyelowo's slot in the Best Actor category), a film that has done well at the box office but that has hardly ignited great passion among audiences or united the critics behind it.
Clint Eastwood has justifiably won many, many awards, but this is also true: he is part of the Hollywood club. Ava DuVernay is not.
It is hard to ignore that "Selma" comes in a year when crowds of angry young people of all colors and races are filling the streets of America demanding a more equal society, fair treatment by police and an end to random shootings of young black men.
