4 Little Girls

Released 1997
Directed by Spike Lee

Every American should see this film. It's about the bombing of a black church in Alabama on September 15, 1963 that killed four young girls. It's also about segregation and racism in what was possibly the most racist of all American cities: Birmingham, Alabama. Black leaders pinpoint this bombing as the event that galvanized African-Americans for the civil rights movement. It also awoke white America to the enormity of the racial problem in the south. If someone was willing to plant a bomb in a Sunday school to purposely kill children, it was obvious desegregation was going to be more than a battle. It would be a war.

The director, Spike Lee, was determined to not let these girls be faceless victims; he wanted us to learn as much as possible about each of the them. The girls and their ages were: Denise McNair, 11, Addie Mae Collins, 14, Cynthia Wesley, 14, and Carole Robertson, 14. Lee could have made a movie that described the events and put them in historical perspective of the civil rights movement. This is how documentaries were made in the past. It's not widely known that today's documentaries have changed. Many top directors are experimenting with this medium, and they're revolutionizing it. Here, Lee has made a very personal film, and we get to know each participant as the person they were at the time and the person they are now. We do so mostly through interviews. Lee talks to one person at a time, and frames them in such closeup, the tops of their heads are frequently cut from the shot. It's very intimate. As you get to know each person, you feel as if you can reach out and feel the sorrow they endured. This is not a sorrowful film, however. The tone is nostalgic, as each person wistfully remembers something different about their deceased daughter, sister, or friend. As they say, time heals all wounds, and these families have had 24 years to grieve. They cherish the memories they have, and they want to share them with us.

Summary by Bill Alward

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