DVD Review: ‘Selma’ Blu-ray gets things right

In Ava DuVernay’s look at the civil rights movement, circa 1965 — Oscar Best Picture nominee and deserved winner of numerous other awards — David Oyelowo gives a career-defining performance as Dr. Martin Luther King. The film is not so much a biopic of King as it is a snapshot of a particular dramatic series of events, climaxing with LBJ calling for passage of the Voting Rights Act of 1965. While DuVernay is careful to introduce a mix of points of view, King is inevitably the central character.

Paramount’s single-disc DVD release seems designed to push people toward the slightly more expensive Blu-ray/DVD combo pack. The DVD-only version has two inessential extras totaling about 10 minutes. The Blu-ray disc in the combo pack has those two plus a big load of more important and interesting additional supplements. In short, the DVD-only version is strictly for people whose interest is limited to watching the film itself.

The combo pack’s Blu-ray is the very opposite, arguably a model for how these things should be assembled, particularly in the case of films with historical backgrounds. It has roughly 80 minutes of additional material, most of it very good. That includes two “making of” documentaries (13 and 27 minutes); one excellent deleted scene, which must have been painful to cut; three alternate, longer versions of scenes; roughly 17 minutes of cast members’ improvisations of their characters’ court testimony; the music video for the Oscar-winning song “Glory,” written and performed by John Legend and Common; and five minutes of historical newsreel footage.

In addition, DuVernay provides two wall-to-wall commentary tracks, one with Oyelowo, the other with cinematographer Bradford Young and editor Spencer Averick. Both tracks are informative and very listenable, largely because of DuVernay’s relaxed and enthusiastic attitude. The second is naturally more technical, and inevitably there is some duplication of information.
It should be noted that Paramount has provided Walmart with an exclusive edition with yet more extras. Those with a distaste for such “exclusive editions” (or for Walmart) may want to wait for a super-duper edition some time down the road, which — if it comes after Walmart’s exclusivity license runs out — may incorporate this material, as has happened with some other films.

Selma (Paramount Home Entertainment, Blu-ray/DVD Combo pack, $39.99; DVD, $29.99)

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ANDY KLEIN is the film critic for Marquee. He can also be heard on “FilmWeek” on KPCC-FM (89.3).