4 Little Girls

Spike Lee's documentary about the horrible 1963 bombing of a Birmingham church that claimed the lives of four young girls. As a documentary, it achieves everything it should: it informs us, it moves us, and it reminds us of the evil that we Americans have in our past, and still have today. "Never forget", indeed. It goes without saying that this was an awful act of hatred and bigotry, its impact still sharply felt by friends and family of the victims. There is one amusing moment: a clip of George Wallace, years after the fact, trotting out his black "best friend" for the world to see, and the man clearly has contempt for Wallace. Speaking of trotting out, however, I question the need for Bill Cosby to chime in, or Jesse Jackson for that matter. There are plenty of articulate and interesting interviewees already involved without pulling in a couple of celebrity pals. It pulled me out of the film for a moment. Other than that, however, a strong and memorable film.