MLK/FBI

Name: MLK/FBI
Genre: Documentary
Released: January 15, 2021
Duration: 104 min
Rating: 81

2021

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Universal acclaim based on 29 Critic Reviews

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Mixed or average reviews based on 26 Ratings

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5.9	User Score Mixed or average reviews based on 26 Ratings

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MLK/FBI

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Movie Details & Credits

| Release Date: January 15, 2021 | Not Rated

Summary: Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. is remembered today as an American hero: a bridge-builder, a shrewd political tactician, and a moral leader. Yet throughout his history-altering political career, he was often treated by U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies like an enemy of the state. In this virtuosic documentary, award-winning editorDr. Martin Luther King Jr. is remembered today as an American hero: a bridge-builder, a shrewd political tactician, and a moral leader. Yet throughout his history-altering political career, he was often treated by U.S. intelligence and law enforcement agencies like an enemy of the state. In this virtuosic documentary, award-winning editor and director Sam Pollard (Editor, 4 LITTLE GIRLS, MO’ BETTER BLUES; Director/Producer, EYEZ ON THE PRIZE, SAMMY DAVIS, JR.: I’VE GOTTA BE ME) lays out a detailed account of the FBI surveillance that dogged King’s activism throughout the ’50s and ’60s, fueled by the racist and red-baiting paranoia of J. Edgar Hoover. In crafting a rich archival tapestry, featuring some revelatory restored footage of King, Pollard urges us to remember that true American progress is always hard-won.… Expand

Director: Samuel D. Pollard

Genre(s): Documentary

Rating: Not Rated

Runtime: 104 min

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Critic Reviews

100

Justin Chang

Jan 14, 2021

The brilliance of MLK/FBI lies in how effortlessly conversant it manages to be with the injustices of the present, without ever deviating from the injustices of the past. Read full review

The Playlist Robert Daniels

Sep 15, 2020

Pollards’ MLK/FBI is more than an eye-opening look at an icon, and the evil forces working to tear him apart, it’s a critical chapter that should be imprinted inside every white American’s heart. Especially right now. Read full review

A.A. Dowd

Sep 16, 2020

It’s a useful reminder not just that this American hero was a widely vilified figure during his lifetime but also that he accomplished everything he did despite nonstop resistance from intelligence agencies, the media, and the public alike. Read full review

Chris Evangelista

Sep 16, 2020

MLK/FBI is an essential film. And it’s a film relevant to where we are at this moment. Read full review

Brian Lowry

Jan 15, 2021

MLK/FBI not only offers a compelling portrait of what was, but beyond just looking back, sets up a debate about what will be. In the process, the documentary sheds light on a dark part of US history while leaving viewers to contemplate just how dark its more sordid corners should remain. Read full review

Mark Kennedy

Jan 14, 2021

There is nothing terribly new in the telling, no huge revelations or bombshells. Most of the details — including King’s infidelity and the use of Withers as an FBI informant — have been known for years. But that’s not Pollard’s interest. His canvas is large, stretching back to post-Civil War Jim Crow, exploring how notions of Black sexuality were turned into social weapons and into the way FBI agents were made mythical in popular culture. Read full review

The Guardian Peter Bradshaw

Jan 14, 2021

[A] startling but sometimes frustratingly reticent and guarded documentary. Read full review

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User Reviews

diplomatic

Jun 6, 2021

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. So informative as I did not learn any of this in school. The contrast between MLK winning the Nobel Peace Prize but then the longtime head of the FBI wiretapping him to look for anything to denounce him and take away his influence. How when he came out against the war in Vietnam the Johnson administration which had signed the Civil Rights Act then stopped supporting him. And mainly how, in his day, the media portrayed him as a terrorist and the majority of the public believed it. Whereas today he’s known to be a revered leader of non violent protest for human rights. A must see.… Expand

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jhomer609

Jan 19, 2021

MLK/FBI (2021) has been praised by many, but one has to question the motives behind it. The fact that the director, Sam Pollard, is Black and has done terrific work previously does not change the fact that he was taken for a ride here and is complicit in an unnecessary take-down of a greatMLK/FBI (2021) has been praised by many, but one has to question the motives behind it. The fact that the director, Sam Pollard, is Black and has done terrific work previously does not change the fact that he was taken for a ride here and is complicit in an unnecessary take-down of a great man. This take-down was initiated by historian David Garrow, with his 2019 article (for the conservative British magazine Standpoint) calling MLK a "sexual libertine". Garrow has also been derided for his vicious take-down of President Obama in his 2017 book Rising Star. Other historians call the FBI evidence "very flimsy" and speculative and say we should be "deeply suspicious". Do we see filmmakers rushing to make similar smearing movies about JFK or FDR, who also had mistresses? No. So then, why this fascination with salacious, defamatory material on great Black men? Why have A.O. Scott and other prominent reviewers not recognized the fact that this film is ultimately a confused smear piece? I will not comment on the film technically, although I find it deficient in this respect, as well. This film may be revealing but it is also repugnant, and (like a Leni Riefenstahl Fascist film festival) should be avoided.… Expand

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