MOVIE REVIEW: 4 LITTLE GIRLS (Movie Review Sample)

MOVIE REVIEW: 4 LITTLE GIRLS Student’s Name Class Date Introduction “4 Little Girls” is a documentary film directed by Spike Lee, a prominent movie director, writer, and actor. The film focuses on the bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church in Birmingham, Alabama, which killed four African-American girls. The death of these girls, including Addie May Collins, Carol Denise McNair, Cynthia Wesley, and Carole Rosamond Robertson, highlighted the impact of racism, racial segregation, and hate in America. Because of the bombing of the Baptist Church and the murder of the four little girls, the African-Americans’ struggle to achieve social justice became more urgent. Summary "4 Little Girls" narrates the prevalence of racism and violence against African-American communities in Alabama. The bombing of the 16th Street Baptist Church is one of the major highlights in the film that emphasizes the hate directed towards minorities. The movie's opening scenes show flashing images of clashes between African-American children, civil rights protestors, and police. These scenes provide an overview of how African Americans were perceived in Alabama in the 1950s and 1960s. While Arthur Hanes Jr., one of the interviewees in the film, claims that Birmingham was a great place to work and live, his voice is juxtaposed with videos of violence against black people. Members of the Ku Klux Klan (KKK) and the police are shown physically assaulting civil rights protestors. As the family and friends of the killed girls narrate their experiences in the state, viewers get an intimate description of how challenging it was for minorities to grow up in the Jim Crow south. Analysis Birmingham, Alabama, was a challenging place for African-Americans to live. Reverend Wyatt Walker narrates that in the mid-1990s, Birmingham experienced many bombing cases leading to the nickname of the region “Dynamite Hill”. Moreover, many white people against racial integration carried out drive-by bomb attacks against African-American homes. These attacks were aimed at resisting attempts by some local and national leaders, including Presidents John F. Kennedy and Lyndon Johnson, to eliminate racial segregation and promote civil rights in America. This resistance was led by Mayor George Wallace and police commissioner Eugene “Bull” Connors, who wanted to maintain the status quo by instigating violence against black people. Members of this minority group were subjected to lynchings and killings, making Birmingham the worst place to live. Nonetheless, civil rights leaders, such as Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and Reverend Fred Shuttlesworth, continued to lead fights against racial segregation despite threats from the KKK and police.[Lee Spike, 4 Little Girls, YouTube, 2019, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ebuKaY0KIbI&t=27s.] [Lee (2019)] Given the urgency for Black people to eradicate segregation in Alabama, African-American children joined the civil rights movement. This new development, coupled with blatant racism and white supremacy tendencies, angered the perpetrators of the church bombing. Although children’s involvement in the dangerous civil rights movement was marred with controversies, many youngsters joined the protests against discrimination. Consequently, most of those who witnessed the bombing or lived through it concluded that the attack was carried out by enemies of progress seeking revenge against minors involved in the demonstrations. However, this deadly event infuriated parents and community leaders to intensify their fight for social justice. They could not allow the white bombers to get away with their crime and let the death of the four little girls be in vain.[Lee (2019)] Following a series of atrocities against African-Americans, including the church bombing and racial segregation in public places, President Johnson signed the Civil Rights bill of 1964. This bill, proposed initially by the assassinated President Kennedy, aimed to outlaw segregation based on race, gender, or religion. While President Kennedy might have begun the legislative process to ban segregation after seeing how protestors were assaulted and bitten by police dogs, the bombing of the church created more urgency in the white house to end rampant discrimination in Alabama. Although discrimination in the south did...