In 1999, this animated edutainment film was released
on VHS to teach young students at school, the life and work of Martin Luther
King, Jr (MLK for short) and how he successfully eliminated segregation altogether.
The story is about two friends (Robert Ri'chard and Lucas Black) who accidentally travel back in time to MLK’s
life, as they learn about his past and racism at the time.
I will have spoilers in here. However, I believe
everyone learned about MLK’s life at school and how he managed to eliminate segregation
by changing the way we view someone’s race. Does “Our Friend, Martin” still
hold up today? Let’s find out.
Many celebrities including Samuel L. Jackson, James
Earl Jones, Whoopi Goldberg, Susan Sarandon, John Travolta, Oprah, among so
many others, voiced characters in this film for a very good reason on why they
want to show this to future generations.
Ironically, Oprah went on to co-star in Selma, a film
related to MLK’s march by traveling on foot with a large crowd walking from
Selma, Alabama to Montgomery, the capital of Alabama.
The idea of this edutainment film was interesting to
show two boys traveling in time to visit MLK, which makes the audience understand
the history of the Civil Rights Movement and the horrifying time of segregation.
Nickthemoviecritic said in his review, “The Animation
reminded me of HBO’s Spawn. Spawn himself, is black and he’s the most popular
superhero outside of Marvel and DC Comics. If it weren’t for MLK, Spawn
would’ve never existed in the first place.”
Archive footage and photographs of MLK are shown
during important moments of his life.
In the final act, there’s a different timeline where
MLK never delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech. Nickthemoviecritic is right
when he said, “This is a cautionary reminder on what not to do if you’re gonna
go back to the past to hang out with a historical figure, think twice before
you take him/her to your own time.”
The ending feels so nice as it shows a montage of
people with different races working and getting along together as equals.
Sadly, the film’s runtime is about an hour long. Nickthemoviecritic
said, “They could’ve stretched out more space to fill in the blanks. An hour
long film is pretty unusual, it’s sort of like the equivalent of an hour long
episode of a television series.”
Nickthemoviecritic recommended, “If you’re a teacher,
you should definitely show this to your students to help them understand MLK’s
impact on why he changed the way we view racism and why we’re all created
equal. This was the film that helped me understand the true meaning of equality
and many of us will continue to honor MLK’s legacy for future generations as a
reminder on why we’re all in this together as one.”
I think we all thank MLK for heling people get along
with every race out there. That’s what he is forever remembered for as the one
that helped us put prejudice away, even though it’s entirely expunged.
Like I said, my teacher showed this to us when I was
in the 5th Grade. I always remembered this, but I didn’t know the
title. A few months ago, I looked up films to review this month, and when I saw
this short, I decided to rewatch it and I fell in love with it. You should see
this, as I think you can find it easily on YouTube, because I think this will
be loved by people who see it.
For the remainder of the month, I will be looking at a
trilogy of comic book adaptations that fit perfectly with this month.
