Title: “MLK/FBI”

Release date: In theaters and on VOD services Jan. 15, 2021

Directed by: Stanley D. Pollard

Written by: Benjamin Hedin and Laura Tomaselli, based on the 1981 book “The FBI and Martin Luther King Jr.: From ‘Solo’ to Memphis” by David Garrow

Starring: Historians and civil rights activists in interviews; historical figures in archival footage

Genre: Documentary

Run time: 1 hour, 42 minutes

Rated: NR

Where I saw it: At an area Landmark theater on a Sunday afternoon, $9, five other people in theater

What it’s about: In the 1950s and ’60s, the FBI and director J. Edgar Hoover use information gathered from dogged surveillance efforts to try and discredit civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.

What I liked about it: Though it reveals little that hasn’t already been written about (based on the 2019 release of investigators’ notes from the FBI by the U.S. government), “MLK/FBI” still is a thorough, sad, often infuriating look at the government (or at least the part run by Hoover) overstepping its authority as it tried to ruin King when he was at the height of his power as a leader of the peaceful protest movement. The film focuses on what seemed like a personal mission for Hoover, who was convinced King was part of a greater effort to spread Communism in the U.S. Hoover’s FBI kept constant watch on King (except, apparently, on April 4, 1968, when King was assassinated at a motel in Memphis, Tenn.), wiretapped his phones and used agents to infiltrate King’s inner circle to build its supposed case against King, with an odd emphasis on King’s marital infidelity (which those who knew King have said was true) and an accusation that he was a witness to a woman being raped and did nothing (an investigation was halted when King was killed). The documentary is a difficult but important watch, with the attitudes about race still applicable today. Being relentlessly followed took its toll on King, apparent in footage that is presented largely in chronological order. The film solidly builds a case for King’s indiscretions not tarnishing his work and legacy. He was, as we might forget for someone now iconic, human. … Among the lowlights of the attack on King: an older white man saying of King “If he even is human, he’s one of the worst”; President Lyndon B. Johnson deciding not to attend a function with King, then later chumming up to him on the phone, then turning against him; and the backlash King faced when, after being silent about the Vietnam War, spoke out against it, arguing that money spent on the war effort could be put to better use addressing poverty at home. Newspaper headlines from the time were not unlike someone outspoken being canceled by social media warriors today. Worst yet: the FBI sending King an anonymous letter suggesting he kill himself.

What I didn’t like about it: The decision to include audio interviews instead of on-camera appearances, at least until the end of the film, seems curious. The sources are identified only by name, in print in the lower left-hand corner of the screen, until the final moments, when they appear and provide what amounts to a summary of the documentary. Perhaps this was done to not distract from the core story about King and Hoover.

Who it should appeal to: Those with an interest in history and civil rights in the U.S.

My score: 82 out of 100.