A 'Brave' Sundance Film Gets Ovations

By Roger Friedman

Sundance Film Festival

FOXNEWS.COM

“Home of the Brave,” directed by Paola di Florio , caused such a sensation yesterday at its first screening that it got a standing ovation. This is a documentary, too, and not a feature film with big stars.

As you may have gathered by now, this is the year of the documentary at Sundance. “Heir to an Execution,” “Super Size Me,” “Imelda” and now “Home of the Brave” form the basis of this year’s trend toward extremely well-told personal stories.

“Home of the Brave” is set out as the story of what happened to Viola Liuzzo , a 39-year-old mother of five who was the only white woman killed during the civil rights movement in Selma, Ala. in 1965. Liuzzo was an all-but-forgotten historical footnote until di Florio and producer Nancy Dickenson came along and decided to recall her tragic end on film. The story seems simple enough: Liuzzo — who came to Selma from Detroit to help with the Voter Registration Act — was killed by three Klansmen who were acquitted later in a trial that had a jury of 12 white men.     

But there is nothing simple about this moving, historically significant, riveting film. Her children did not forget their mother, and as they grew up they fought for information about her death and a vindication for their mother’s heartfelt activism. In doing so, the children — especially Liuzzo’s two sons — became radicalized in unforeseen ways. And as the truth of what the U.S. government did to Liuzzo becomes clearer, her family splinters. The result is a movie of twists and turns that continually surprises and provokes. I can only hope that “Home of the Brave” gets real distribution and isn’t relegated to PBS or Lifetime TV. It should be seen by as many Americans as possible.