# 4 Little Girls (1997)

### reviewed by
Chad Polenz

    4 Little Girls

Chad'z rating: **1/2 (out of 4 = OK/average)

1997, no MPAA rating, 102 minutes [1 hour, 42 minutes]

    [documentary]

Produced by Spike Lee, Sam Pollard; directed by Spike Lee.

Seen January 18, 1998 on home video (a special copy and press kit sent to me from Bazan Entertainment Marketing).

More often than not, documentary filmmakers are able to make their points and themes by simply stating the facts and allowing the viewer to grasp the intended concepts. Perhaps why "4 Little Girls" falls just short of greatness is due to the fact that director Spike Lee tries to encompass so many things that the impact of the theme is weakened in the shuffle.

The film's title refers to four young girls who were innocent victims of a terrorist bombing of a Baptist church in the racially-heated Birmingham, Alabama of 1963. The opening sequence shows the graves of the girls while a sad song about them is played. We're shown authentic photographs of the girls - always smiling and laughing, and it's easy to feel sympathetic even though we don't know anything about them.

Family and friends of the girls begin to tell stories about them, of how much they loved them, but also of the tense, racist environment they grew up in. One father compares not being able to tell his daughter he couldn't buy her lunch at a white-only restaurant with the equivalent of smashing her head with a rock himself. Other such stories are told, and you can sense the pain in the eyes of these people 40 years after the incident.

The stories and images give the film a powerful, gripping atmosphere. However, this tight storytelling is weakened severely as the direction starts to wander with little synchronization. Within a few minute timespan, the focus of the girls as individuals is lost and instead shifted to a broader spectrum. I hesitate to describe the depiction of the civil rights movement and the oppression blacks suffered in the 1950s and 60s as "generic," but I can think of no other way to describe it. Lee uses the standard stock footage that has been used in every other documentary of the sort: the hosing of peaceful marchers; the police brutality, etc. Although these images are still moving yet disturbing, they don't seem to be adding up to anything within the context of the film. For example: we continue to meet more people who were somehow associated with the girls, but when they talk about the racist sheriff and Gov. George Wallace - neither of whom had anything to do with the bombing, it doesn't seem significant.

Actually, it's not so much that those images and direction don't seem relevant, it's that they only skim the surface of something much bigger. Anyone who has studied U.S. history knows the struggles against racism blacks endured (and still do today), but the film's problem is it essentially assumes the viewer is an expert in that area. Only a few stories of first-hand racism are told while the stock footage is shown, and it's clear much more could, and should be said.

Eventually, the bombing incident is brought into the whole scheme and the film again presents it on a more personal level. Important news figures and celebrities comment on the situation and finally the point comes across: the bombing of the church and the killing of the four little girls was the turning point in the civil rights movement. The irony of it all is that the bombing was meant to do just the opposite, and this point partially re-lights the film's fire.

We do learn that one of the killers was brought to justice, a violent racist whose name was "Dynamite Bob." Plenty of people describe him as a horrific villain, but never really give examples. In fact, this is symbolic of how the film works in establishing the evil atmosphere and mentality which lead the death of four innocent people: it never really answers the who and why question, which is: who could do such an atrocious thing and why?

Even though the themes to "4 Little Girls" are slightly weaker than intended, they are still important. I could certainly sympathize with the tragedy of it all, but as a film it could have been better.

Please visit Chad'z Movie Page @ http://members.aol.com/ChadPolenz - over 180 new and old films reviewed in depth, not just blind ratings and quick capsules. Also, check out The FIRST Shay Astar Web Page @ http://members.aol.com/ChadPolenz/ShayAstar.html

    e-mail: ChadPolenz@aol.com
    (C) 1998 Chad Polenz

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