An Ordinary Hero: The True Story of Joan Trumpauer Mulholland (2013)
The amazing true story of civil rights pioneer Joan Trumpauer Mulholland, An Ordinary Hero is directed by award-winning filmmaker Loki Mulholland, who captures his mother's story and learns about her courage and the role she played in changing American history. As a white girl growing up in the South, Joan witnessed the ugly realities of segregation and racism firsthand and vowed to one day change it. By the time she was 19, she had already joined the Freedom Riders and participated in over three dozen sit-ins and protests. Despite being attacked by angry mobs, put on death row in the notorious Parchman Penitentiary, and coming face-to-face with the KKK, Joan never wavered from her belief that we are all created equal.
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Just perfect...
Crappy film
This is one of the few movies I've ever seen where the whole audience broke into spontaneous, loud applause a third of the way in.
It's a feast for the eyes. But what really makes this dramedy work is the acting.
I saw this documentary for the first time at Doc Utah last September. When I heard that a local film-maker had made a film about his mother's role in the Civil Rights movement, I figured it would be of limited production values, and be over-the-top in glorifying his mother.I was completely wrong on both counts.This film offers a very interesting and emotional recounting of Joan Mulholland's participation in the "freedom Rider's" movement, the lunch counter sit-ins, and other important and history-altering events in 1960s Mississippi. The film flows easily from one event to the next, with very coherent interviews with important participants in these events, offering a variety of perspectives. I walked out of that first showing amazed at how much I didn't know about these events, and with a deep appreciation to Loki Mulholland for capturing his mother and the other witnesses on film telling their stories.The film is very suitable for pre-teens and older, who as a result of watching this documentary will feel that they too can change the world.