Boycott (2001)

A Human side

I've seen alot of movies about the life of Martin Luther King Jr and the Boycott that woke up the civil rights movement, but what I like about this movie is it put a human side to everyone in the file. Civil Right leaders are looked at and portrayed as icons. This movie made them human, putting the realistic touch needed for our youth to know and believe the truth of the events of the not so far past. January 22, 2008

WHAT WOULD YOU & I HAVE DONE??

It's 1955 and Rosa Parks has been arrested for refusing to give up her seat on the public bus to a white person. The black (Negro) community immediately reacts with what they think will be a short boycott of the public transportation system. It turns into a 381 marathon of wills between the black community and the whites who want to preserve the status quo. How they did that is the story of this HBO film. There were many times when the boycott could have fallen apart. Many of the blacks did not have cars and relied on public transportation to get to work, often quite a distance from their segregated communities. It is a remarkable story of perseverance, hope and faith. Jeffrey Wright as Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. carries the movie but there are impressive supporting performances as well that keep this story moving and entertaining. It is doubtful that any of us can see and learn too much about this ugly part of our country's history. It is a reminder of the incredible ability the human race has to inflict pain and persecution upon fellow humans. It is also a testimony to what hope & faith can overcome. Put this at the top of your list. [...]

December 29, 2007

"We will not be free until we rest!" 381 days that shook the U.S

In December 1955,Rosa Parks wilfully refused to give up her seat to a white man on a Montgomery,Alabama bus.Her refusal sparked what was to become an 381 day boycott of the Montgomery transit system that saw the rise of fledgling minister and newcomer Dr.Martin Luther King and what was to become what is now recognised as "The Birth of the Civil Rights Movement".HBO has turned in a tremendous,nearly moment-by-moment account of that period of time,the events that transpired and the main figures that were intimately involved in the boycott that found itself going all the way to The Supreme Court.This film is taut with tension from the very opening scene and keeps propelling forward with unrelenting mercy as one woman's brave act of defiance of segregation law spearheads an entire awakening of conscience and soul of not only the African-American population butultimately of the country at large.This film is the most excellent starting place for all students of AMERICAN history.We cannot all be free until all are free!
One interesting point that this film showed was that MLK Jr.(amazing as always Jeffrey Wright!) IMMEDIATELY left the pulpit in the middle of his message to go to his family when he is informed that his home had been bombed.He didn't just sit there looking puzzled and continued what he was doing as some other famous leader did!
4 1/2****'s for this totally compelling , gripping and well made docudrama. April 14, 2007

The story of Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. and the Montgomery Bus Boycott

On December 1, 1955, Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat on a bus in Montgomery, Alabama so that a white passenger could sit down. Her arrest for this act of civil disobedience sparked the Montgomery Bus Boycott, one of the most significant and successful efforts against racial segregation in American history. The HBO movie "Boycott" looks at what happened when the one-day boycott of the Montgomery buses called because of the Parks' arrest became a protracted effort that last more than a year. The focus is not on Parks (Iris Little-Thomas), but on the young Rev. Martin Luther King, Jr. (Jeffrey Wright), who becomes the spokesman for the boycott and had his first leadership role in the Civil Rights Movement. However, while the focus in on King, the work of other leaders, such as Ralph Abernathy (Terrence Howard) and Jo Ann Robinson (CCH Pounder), as well as the ordinary citizens who walked to work and drove the car pools, are covered and honored as well.

In watching how King becomes a leader be sure you continue to pay attention to how the city government of Montgomery tried to break the boycott, because there was a complexity to this struggle that goes beyond the simple idea that Negroes in the city stopped riding the bus. The escalating efforts by the city not only served to solidify King's believes in the value of nonviolence, but also revealed the hypocrisy of using the law to enforce injustice. There is also the interesting relationship between King and Bayard Rustin (Erik Todd Dellums), who actually sees King as failing to live up to Gandhi's example because there are armed men protecting Coretta Scott King (Carmen Ejogo) and his daughter. King is a revered figure in the telling of this story, but he is not turned into a walking saint, and neither the writing nor Wright's performance tries to make him anything more than a man trying to make the boycott work against great odds, and the concern of Daddy King (Mike Hodge) for his son's safety foreshadow's King's assassination in 1968, even though I think few viewers will not have his fate always in the back of their mind while watching "Boycott." The only serious complaint is that the movie seems to end somewhat abruptly because what turns out to be the straw that breaks the camel's back does not strike us as such at the time, so when victory is achieved it comes as something of a surprise.

Writers Herman Daniel Farrell and Timothy J. Sexton, working from Stewart Burns' book "Daybreak of Freedom," come up with creative ways to keep things movie in a movie that is about a boycott that lasts over 380-days (the exact number is in dispute). You might think there would be a problem in showing people not riding a bus, but seeing the Negroes of Montgomery walking and car pooling to get to work becomes a potent series of images. We also have folks on both sides of the issue addressing the camera with what constitute quick asides that give a sense of what people were thinking, which includes some rather ugly thoughts. The bit of creativity where what Rosa Parks was thinking before her fateful moment in history, consisting of images seen on the window of the bus, is not repeated. If you watch "Boycott" again after exhausting the special features, most of which require you to go frame by frame to read about the people and times, you will understand more of what is happening in the various montages that tie scenes together. This is important becuase "Boycott" is trying to be educational as well as inspirational. May 27, 2006

Powerful

A good movie with strong and moving actors.Jeffery Wight at some of his best work as Dr.King and what can I say about Terence Howard.This young man is on his way. This is one movie that should be seen by everyone. A very important and uplifting time in history. April 14, 2006

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