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4 Little Girls Analysis

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The film 4 Little Girls (1997) Directed by Spike Lee shows in detail the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham, Alabama that occurred on September 15th, 1963. Dr. King comment on the event stating that it is “one of the most vicious and tragic crimes ever perpetrated against humanity". The movie was entirely made nearly 30 years later, but still gives us an investigative feel while explaining how Addie Mae Collins, Cynthia Wesley, Carole Robertson and Carol Denise still lived their lives day to day. Through the use of eye witness, family members, and friends we are given a detailed analysis of the event and the aftermath while juxtaposing church desecrations from the mid 1990’s. and institutional racism. 4 Little Girls was also well received by critics and truly a test for an experienced filmmaker. In the DVD extras we watched in class Spike Lee said that he was interested in making this film back when he was in film school, but didn’t have the money or the connections to make it happen. After a few years after school he made a couple of films and built his background in filmmaking before considering a documentary about the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing. He had met with some of the parents and family long before making 4 Little Girls. He spent years building up the relationship with them and the community. The families probably would not let any other director other than Spike Lee and they had to know it was right to trust him. This idea of trust was important because the film focuses on the community heavily while also making parallels with the girls and their families. “Spike was asking if he needed narration and what the structure should be. I basically said the structure should be that there are parallels-the family, the history of the community—and then they come together on the explosion." (Lee) This approach is interesting because a lot of the film is giving you a sense of what life was like for African Americans and the white people that lived in Birmingham in 1963. The film covers civil rights demonstrations and shows local facilities past and present. “Structurally, 4 Little Girls is a conventional, expository documentary organized into five chapters: portraits of the young girls;

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