The release of a film about the life of activist and Congressman John Lewis (D-Ga.) could not have been better timed.
Tomorrow, July 3, Magnolia Pictures will premiere Director and Producer Dawn Porter’s film “John Lewis: Good Trouble” as streets across this nation are filled with protestors. Today’s activists are demanding the end of systemic racism and police violence – and legislation is being introduced in response to the police killing of George Floyd, which compelled international unrest. The scenes are eerily similar to a time in the 1960s when a young Freedom Rider and Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee leader from Alabama risked his life for Black people in the south to have the right to vote.
“We are still in the Civil Rights Movement because we are still in the Civil Rights Struggle,” said U.S. Rep Ayanna Pressley (D-Mass.) said in the opening scenes of the film. “Congressman Lewis gave us the blueprint – and the blueprint is to organize, mobilize and legislate.”
“John Lewis: Good Trouble” introduces Lewis at the moment he stepped from behind the shadow of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and became a critical voice within the Civil Rights Movement in his own right. The place is Selma. The year is 1965. The day would become known as “Bloody Sunday.” After an interview of Lewis explaining the significance of them marching on Selma, black and white film shows Lewis and a group of young activists face-to-face with Alabama State Troopers. An 80-year-old Lewis vividly describes the events as if he is reliving the moment exactly as it was 55 years ago.
“As we approached the bridge – we saw a sea of blue… Alabama State Troopers,” Lewis said. As the footage rolled the young activists, led by Lewis, bravely ask the troopers for a moment to talk. The troopers refused their request, telling the group there will be no moments to discuss or compromise. “It will detrimental to your safety to continue this march,” a trooper told the group who stood on the frontline representing a mass of protestors. “And I am saying this is no longer a lawful assembly. You are ordered to disperse.”
As the marchers turned around to disperse, the troopers attacked them before they could fully turn their backs to retreat. Lewis is seen on camera getting beaten and then trampled as the troopers make their way to launch an assault on other marchers. “My knees went from under me,” Lewis said with his signature booming Southern drawl reduced to a tremble. “I thought I was going to die on that bridge.”
The film then takes viewers to the present. Voter restriction for Blacks has resurfaced as voter suppression. Lewis is seen as active in his late 70s as he was in his early 20s traveling the country – particularly in southern states, to speak against the impending threat to the Black vote. He is also shown stumping for politicians with aligning political views – including Georgia Gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams.
“We are going through a difficult time in America,” Lewis said during one of many speeches. “My greatest fear is that we will wake up one day and our democracy is gone. We cannot afford to let that happen – and as long as I have breath in my body, I will do what I can.”
“John Lewis: Good Trouble,” gives a glimpse beyond the Civil Rights legend and legislator and into his beginnings. His siblings share insight on the bright boy who grew up preaching to chickens and would sneak to school, defying the demands of the family farm for the sake of his education.
The film also shares details of the circumstances in which a teenage Lewis came to meet Dr. King – and how he always referred to him as “the boy from Troy” even into adulthood.
The film beautifully texturizes the man behind the legend – a warm, kind and inviting individual with a love for art and music, who loves to lean on humor. The film also further humanizes Lewis with a rare glimpse into his personal and family life while taking an encyclopedic overview of his career from his days as part of the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee to the halls of Congress.
More controversial elements of Lewis’ career – including more depth into his contentious race for U.S. Congress against his friend and fellow activist Julian Bond – would have been an interesting to see in “John Lewis: Good Trouble.” But the film serves its purpose of paying fitting homage to Lewis’ tireless, lifelong efforts to move his country beyond the violent history of racism and into the beloved community his mentor and hero Dr. King often spoke of.
“We will restore the soul of America,” Lewis said. “There might be some setbacks and some delays, but as a nation and as a people, we will get there. “My philosophy is very simple: when you see something that is not right, not fair, not just… say something,” Lewis said. Get in trouble, good trouble, necessary trouble. That can save our country and save our democracy.”
“John Lewis: Good Trouble” will be released in theaters and on demand Friday, July 3. The film has a run time of 96 minutes. For more information, visit https://www.johnlewisgoodtrouble.com/.
