"They killed our husbands Betty but they didn't kill their ideas. They are still alive. What's important now is for us to carry them forward." After the assassinations of Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. their wives are left to carry on their ideas and dreams. After a meeting at a convention Betty (Blige) and Coretta (Bassett) forge a life long friendship as well as becoming a force in the Civil Rights era. The subject matter for this made me want to watch it but the fact that it is a Lifetime movie made me a little hesitant. I have to admit that this is, to me, the best Lifetime movie I have ever seen. The writing is good and the acting is better. The movie kept me interested and watching the entire time and I even forgot it was a TV movie at times. The movie is less a Civil Rights in your face preachy movie and more about the personal relationship between the two and that actually added to the enjoyment. I have never said this about a Lifetime movie before but I recommend this. Overall, best Lifetime movie ever made. I give it a B+.
4 Reviews
I AM FOR TRUTH NO MATTER WHO TELLS IT
nogodnomasters13 April 2019
Warning: Spoilers
This film shows the friendship and struggles for the widows of Malcolm X (Lindsay Owen Pierre) and Martin Luther King jr.(Malik Yoba) It is a Lifetime TV movie with soap opera dialouge and watered down action. Betty's (Mary J. Blige)struggles more with family than she does with the movement. Her life was utterly destroyed with the death of Malcolm X. While the film attempts to show how strong and resilient she was, the personal set backs weighed heavily on her life. Coretta (Angela Bassett) is less focused upon. Her struggles with making a national holiday for MLK appears to be her only cause, that and suppressing the FBI tapes. We got to see very little of rallies that they attended or headed up; few speeches that they made; or how they lobbied for reform. We did get to see them do a line dance.
The movie is interlaced with file footage from the era. I felt the movie was either woefully incomplete or they were exaggerating the drama through the use of saxophone music. It is a film whose idea far exceeded its execution.
This wonderful movie of American icons was filmed in Montreal and not on location in Selma, Atlanta, Harlem, or Washington DC. On an interesting if not confusing note Angela Bassett who played Coretta Scott King in this film played Dr. Betty Shabazz in Malcolm X. She did a fine job and I feel the film would have been better had she played that role again.
The movie is interlaced with file footage from the era. I felt the movie was either woefully incomplete or they were exaggerating the drama through the use of saxophone music. It is a film whose idea far exceeded its execution.
This wonderful movie of American icons was filmed in Montreal and not on location in Selma, Atlanta, Harlem, or Washington DC. On an interesting if not confusing note Angela Bassett who played Coretta Scott King in this film played Dr. Betty Shabazz in Malcolm X. She did a fine job and I feel the film would have been better had she played that role again.
Betty and Coretta
dalydj-918-25517510 February 2013
Warning: Spoilers
The story of these two wife's of great political leaders in the fight to end racism could have been made into a movie that actually took the time to care about these women. However this attempt is just another lifetime movie that comes off as forgettable look at the two gigantic lives of these two women. Betty Shabazz (Mary J. Blige) and Coretta Scott King (Angela Bassett) are two women who in the late sixties both lost their husbands by assassination, these men were Malcolm X (Lindsay Owen Pierre) and Martin Luther King, Jr. (Malik Yoba) who both fought for the rights of the black community coming up with success but also defeats. The story quickly changes from any political story to the life's of the women as we see them live on and become friends dealing with family drama on the part of Betty but Coretta is the one that stays on the politics side. I came out not liking the film for many reasons, the film has a "lifetime movie" quality which just makes a film hard to watch no matter how short it is (this film is about 90 minutes long but feels much longer). The acting was hard to watch because the writing failed them as it presented these strong women as quite to proud in a bad way. Angela Bassett plays Coretta Scott King and it is sad to see this once great actress be pushed to the world of a lifetime movie, she really try's her to act past the bad writing but she can only do decent work compared to her once great filmography in the early nighties. Mary J. Blige plays Dr. Betty Shabazz and she is not an actress which really is my biggest complaint about her performance. She is given the most work to do but she does not have the talent able to hold her own in this character that is too big for her. Bad directing and writing about these great women of black history (during black history month) is a very cruel thing to do in my mind.
EPISODE GRADE: E (MVP: Angela Bassett)
EPISODE GRADE: E (MVP: Angela Bassett)
Life After Assassinations ***1/2 Betty & Coretta
edwagreen9 February 2013
Warning: Spoilers
When Coretta Scott King met Malcolm X, this was to begin a special relationship between her and his wife, Betty Shabazz.
The picture really is about how the two women coped following the assassinations of both their husbands. They bonded very well together as they came to see that their struggles for civil rights must have a common cause and not divert from each other.
The depiction of Mrs. King's life was smooth sailing, but we don't get to see how Mary J. Blige, who was excellent as Betty, came to her career in education. We did see the troubled daughter she had who was greatly affected by watching her father be murdered in the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem in 1965. That trouble was invariably passed down to her son who torched Betty's place, which led to her death.
The acting is very good from all concerned, especially that of the troubled adult daughter of Shabazz.
The picture really is about how the two women coped following the assassinations of both their husbands. They bonded very well together as they came to see that their struggles for civil rights must have a common cause and not divert from each other.
The depiction of Mrs. King's life was smooth sailing, but we don't get to see how Mary J. Blige, who was excellent as Betty, came to her career in education. We did see the troubled daughter she had who was greatly affected by watching her father be murdered in the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem in 1965. That trouble was invariably passed down to her son who torched Betty's place, which led to her death.
The acting is very good from all concerned, especially that of the troubled adult daughter of Shabazz.
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