Boycott (2001)

Better Late Then Never

The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

This movie feels like it was made purely to piss off people who want good shows

I came across this film when searching for something to use to highlight the Montgomery Bus Boycott - it is quite simply brilliant! The atmosphere created by the director really drags you into this conflict and shows how the belief in peaceful protest is as powerful a force as anything out there. Jeffrey Wright is immense as MLK with able support from Terence Howard and the consequences of this amazing double act was you could hear a pin drop. The story is stirring and emotional yet never cheesy and is interspersed with clever news/interviews with people in the situation. This film really gets to the heart of the issue facing the people involved and never loses sight of its goal - loved it! This is one of the best films I have seen - a classic on a par with Shawshank.

I use movies as an adjunct to English class in a remote part of India. I like to show movies from different parts of the world or where students will also learn something about history or cultures, so I bought this movie sight unseen. I'm sure it's a great movie, but for my students it was much too slow moving and they started to lose interest. I was disappointed about that since I find this episode in history so exciting, but that's how it went in my class. If you use "Boycott" in an ESL class, be sure to give the background to the history beforehand. Don't worry about the accents -- they are clear, and the dialog is clear and slow enough, but a lot of background knowledge s required.

"Boycott" is beautifully filmed. I love the fact that it doesn't focus only on Dr. Kings' life and "I Have a Dream" speech like most films/documentaries tend to focus on. It also didn't focus on Rosa Parks either. The movie is truly about the struggle of the boycott. One can really learn a lot about the movement. I never would have guessed Jeffrey Wright could play Dr. King so well. Dr. King's speeches are delivered very well by Wright. Very convincing. And Terrence Howard...woo..he's attractive and a very good actor...and very attractive.Just splendid.

This film, following other classics of histo-drama such as Malcolm X or Cry Freedom, is not a biography of Martin Luther King. Instead, it shows in detail the Montgomery Bus Boycott, and the beginnings of Dr. King's philosophy and motivation.It is somewhat dis-orienting at first, as it is shot both in a documentary style, with references to the camera and a raw, un-cut feel, and in a more traditional style. However, as the movie progresses, you find both styles equally powerful in their methods.'I found this film particularly moving because I was not alive during the events depicted, and the personification or the real-ization of the characters, people I grew up near worshiping, brought home just how different today's world is from 1950's Alabama.