Shirley: Not Quite Capturing Her Multitudes

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MOVIE INFO VIA ROTTEN TOMATOES:

The story of the first Black congresswoman, Shirley Chisholm, and her trailblazing run for president of the United States.

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REVIEW:

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Shirley Chisholm was a mold breaking politician who challenged the standard narrative of her time and blazed a trail for every women after her.  Shirley on Netflix, gives short shift to her political rise.  Instead, it focuses on her greatest political moment— her run for the Presidency in 1972.   

Chisholm was an educator who advocated tirelessly for the rights of children.  Except for a few smiles and words of encouragement to some little ones, Shirley shows none of that.  It does show a great many politicians and advisors being treated as schoolchildren by her.  

The film desperately tries for urgency by striving to be a political thriller. What brings it down is it staid representation of the campaign trail and backroom politics.  It spends too much time explaining the stakes, the meaning of each political maneuver.  There’s too little time left for showing them in action. 

Shirley falls back on rousing speeches to disguise its political inaction, the constant defeats shown as moral victories. It always disguising the grinding ennui that are her primary defeats as moral lessons and not her predetermined political fate by the powers that be. She must go down swinging and smiling, going high when they go low.

Complex, meaningful events from Chisholm’s life and career become reductive paving stones in a despairing story of ill-timed ambition. An early scene, set soon after her election to Congress, shows her railing against her appointment to the Agriculture Committee and convincing the speaker of the House to reassign her. No mention is made of the fact that she served for two years on the committee, and found a way to use her position to expand the food stamp program.

Shirley is only interest in showing as a symbol of democratic representation of minorities and women.  What she did and achieved doesn’t really matter. The film shows her struggles and alienation from her sister and husband.  The clashes between her advisers just show her unwillingness to compromise her political integrity

Regina King does a more than respectable job of echoing Chisholm voice and mannerisms.  Her performance seems fully inhabited. But there is little for her to do other than trade quips with the other characters, in a drama that is too content with telling rather than showing.

Shirley gets a 3.0/5 or a B. It’s streaming on Netflix.

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CREDITS:

Directed by

John Ridley

Written by

John Ridley

Produced by

• Regina King
• Reina King
• Anikah McLaren
• Elizabeth Haggard
• John Ridley

Starring

• Regina King
• Lance Reddick
• Lucas Hedges
• Brian Stokes Mitchell
• Christina Jackson
• Michael Cherrie
• André Holland
• Terrence Howard

Cinematography

Ramsey Nickell

Edited by

JoAnne Yarrow

Music by

Tamar-kali

Production

companies

• Participant
• Royal Ties Productions

Distributed by

Netflix

Release dates

• March 15, 2024(United States)
• March 22, 2024(Netflix)

Country

United States

Language

English

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