What do you think was the best scenes in the movie? There were so many great ones that it's hard for me to name just one, but for me, in no particular order, it is:
1. The pig farmer scene. You couldn't help but feel for James having to swallow his pride and degrade himself in front of his family to avoid getting shot. Great acting by Forest
2. The lynching scene, mostly due to everyone's reactions to it afterward.
3. The slapping scene. Denzel's reaction was perfect.
Critics have charged that King plagiarized that too by borrowing from a speech given to the Republican convention in 1952 by an African-American preacher named Archibald Carey, Jr.
Some of them say he gave Cary's speech word-for-word.
It can probably be said that King borrowed from the idea of the speech by Carey (who was a friend of King's), but only the last couple of paragraph's resembled Carey's speech and little of it is word-for-word.
Both men spun their remarks off the words of the song "My Country 'Tis of Thee."
King's speech ended with:
This will be the day when all of God's children will be able to sing with a new meaning, "My country, 'tis of thee, sweet land of liberty, of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, land of the pilgrim's pride, from every mountainside, let freedom ring." And if America is to be a great nation, this must become true. So let freedom ring from the prodigious hilltops of New Hampshire. Let freedom ring from the mighty mountains of New York. Let freedom ring from the heightening Alleghenies of Pennsylvania! Let freedom ring from the snowcapped Rockies of Colorado! Let freedom ring from the curvaceous peaks of California! But not only that; let freedom ring from Stone Mountain of Georgia! Let freedom ring from Lookout Mountain of Tennessee! Let freedom ring from every hill and every molehill of Mississippi. From every mountainside, let freedom ring.
When we let freedom ring, when we let it ring from every village and every hamlet, from every state and every city, we will be able to speed up that day when all of God's children, black men and white men, Jews and Gentiles, Protestants and Catholics, will be able to join hands and sing in the words of the old Negro spiritual, "Free at last! free at last! thank God Almighty, we are free at last!"
Carey's speech ended with:
We, Negro Americans, sing with all loyal Americans: My country 'tis of thee, Sweet land of liberty, Of thee I sing. Land where my fathers died, Land of the Pilgrims' pride From every mountainside Let freedom ring!
That's exactly what we mean--from every mountain side, let freedom ring. Not only from the Green Mountains and White Mountains of Vermont and New Hampshire; not only from the Catskills of New York; but from the Ozarks in Arkansas, from the Stone Mountain
in Georgia, from the Blue Ridge Mountains of Virginia--let it ring not only for the minorities of the United States, but for the disinherited of all the earth--may the Republican Party, under God, from every mountainside,
LET FREEDOM RING!
http://www.truthorfiction.com/rumors/m/mlk.htm
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Some people can't handle the fact that a black man earned a place among America's greatest speech writers and orators.
I hope that all students who are inspired by this movie will study MLK's speeches and take up debating!
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"I was there - he was a black leader, not a national leader."
You were there? Okay? Well, I'm pleased to meet you. I had family members around then -- so what do ya know? -- hehe
But anyway, in what sense is he only a black leader? Do you mean "then" compared to now? What? Surely, his ideals and actions helped to shape the history of some world relations, much less the nation -- this nation. You go over to other countries and you SEE how much people know of folks here, like King (there has been quite a lot of positive impact). So how is he only limited to blacks? I can agree that, for the time he lived, he was "to BE considered AS" only a black leader, from the portrayal of his ideals through the US media -- a result of how division was pushed to the very core of this nation. Nevertheless, and it is good, his reputation grew tremendously as time passed on, thereby bringing the knowledge and acclaim to his name that would actually make him considerable of that term -- "before his time." But it was the right time indeed. And over more time he in fact did gain that deserved reputation as, for most the strength of importance held by the Civil Rights movement in the United States, and what it meant and means to all -- not just blacks -- a NATIONAL LEADER, at least. Sorry if you'd disagree, but MLK's stance to his dream is by no means limited to being strictly about positives for blacks alone.
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"What did the "media" turn him into exactly? MLK wanted equality for everyone. He fought for what he believed in and he was murdered for it. If you can't understand what MLK did for black people then you have a serious problem. If you dislike his holiday so much then write a letter to the government. Both whites and blacks know what a great man he was. And if a majority of white people don't care for MLK then there wouldn't be so many of them visiting his site every single day. So I say you should speak for youself. And most companies may they be white, jewish, etc work that day. Stop trying to make it into something it's not. "
The media hyped him into a bigger figure than he actually was. Most of this was out of white guilt. MLK didn't just want equality, that was only the beginning. He wanted special priviledges for blacks after that equality just sounds better and undisputable and less controversial. He worked for his people only and secondarily any liberal white or any other minority who wanted to come along for the ride. You said it yourself "if you don't understand what he did for black people" but not ALL people.
The Obama Presidency: Where Everyday will be MLK day.......
Besides winning the 1964 Nobel Peace Prize, in 1965 the American Jewish Committee presented King with the American Liberties Medallion for his "exceptional advancement of the principles of human liberty." Reverend King said in his acceptance remarks, "Freedom is one thing. You have it all or you are not free."
He is considered a saint among several Protestant churches, including the Episcopalian and Lutheran branches.[citation needed]
As of 2006, more than 730 cities in the United States had streets named after King. King County, Washington rededicated its name in his honor in 1986, and changed its logo to an image of his face in 2007. The city government center in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, is the only city hall in the United States to be named in honor of King.
In 1965 King was awarded the Pacem in Terris Award. It was named after a 1963 encyclical letter by Pope John XXIII that calls upon all people of good will to secure peace among all nations. Pacem in Terris is Latin for 'Peace on Earth.'
In 1966, the Planned Parenthood Federation of America awarded King the Margaret Sanger Award for "his courageous resistance to bigotry and his lifelong dedication to the advancement of social justice and human dignity."[51]
King received The Marcus Garvey Prize for Human Rights, presented by the Jamaican Government, posthumously in 1968.
In 1971, King was awarded the Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Recording for his Why I Oppose the War in Vietnam.
In 1977, the Presidential Medal of Freedom was awarded posthumously to King by Jimmy Carter.[52]
King is the second most admired person in the 20th century, according to a Gallup poll.
King was voted 6th in the Person of the Century poll by TIME.[53]
King was elected the third Greatest American of all time by the American public in a contest conducted by the Discovery Channel and AOL.
Source: Wikipedia
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Apropos Martin Luther King, Denzel Whitaker's character, James Farmer Jr, would go on to found CORE (the Congress of Racial Equality) and play a leading role with MLK in the civil rights movement.
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MLK is not only a saint in some American Protestant denominations( he is on the Calendar of saints of the Evangelical Lutheran church of America and the Calendar of saints in the Episcopal Church) he is on the list of the 10 20th century Martyrs in Westminster abbey as well so he has Anglican recognition as a martyr( and possible saint).
On Easter Sunday, May 7, 2000, Pope John Paul II recognised MLK as a martyr to the Christian faith in a ceremony recognising Catholic and non-Catholic martyrs held in the Rome. This was controversial as MLK was a Baptist minister and there is some debate now as to whether a Catholic chuch can now honor MLK on his birthday and have candles for him or pray to him for intercession as only recognised saints have this priviledge in the Catholic church and MLK is a martyr but not a fully canonised saint (but historically, most martyrs are considered saints because they gave their life for their faith). Also a martyr is considered to be beatified in the Church--meaning this person is in Heaven in the opinion of the Pope who recognises him. It is unique honor as very few Non catholics have been so recognised as a beatified martyr is one step from sainthood. There are actually some people who believe that MLK may eventually become the first non Catholic saint in the Catholic church and that being recognised as a martyr was the first step toward this.
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And another well-intentioned thread is run into the ground by typical IMDB behavior....
Well, at least we have those first 2 1/2 pages....
This time, Effie White's gonna win.
Whitney was wrong. Children are no longer the future.
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To me the pig scene was the most pivotal. It presented James Farmer Jr with two choices, to submit to the humiliation inflicted by the tyranny of the majority or to find other ways to vanquish that tyranny. Later that theme is neatly recapitulated in his final speech, in which he concludes "...I have a right, even a duty to resist with violence or civil disobedience. You should pray I choose the latter."
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shareThe best scene in the movie to me is after the son witnesses seeing a lynching for the first time. When he looks at his father his father immediately understands and there is a bond. The son has been thrust into the real world in which his father was protecting him from. He now understands his fathers actions around white people and other black peoples reactions in the south.
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The scene when James Farmer gets Denzel out of jail and his son now looks at him with admiration as opposed to being ashamed of him.
shareWhen Tolson tells Lowe that debate is a way to 'take his mind back'.
"Your mother puts license plates in your underwear? How do you sit?!"
Pretty much anything with Forest Whitaker in. Dude was immense. The one where his kid comes home late, and they have the big fight was pretty grand.
They've got cars big as bars, they've got rivers of gold