Forty-four years before Hillary Clinton’s historic run for President, one Congresswoman had the audacity to try her hand at the biggest political office on the planet. Shirley documents the historic 1972 Presidential campaign of black U.S. congresswoman Shirley Chisholm (Regina King), as she seeks to make her mark as the first black and first female President of the United States.
This is a film that is surely meant to play as an inspiration for a new generation of dreamers and activists, particularly young women, documenting all the trials and tribulations of Congresswoman Chisholm as she sought to change the nation’s political system for the better. We follow the Congresswoman as her ambition to run slowly moves from a half-hearted promise made to some female supporters to a tense game of delegate swapping during the Democratic National Convention. Regina King leads this depiction as the stubbornly determined politician singularly focused on using her platform to both help overlooked constituencies improve their lives and inspire them to one day run for office so they can do the same. Against all odds and doubts, including those of her own family, Congresswoman Chisholm had the audacity to believe in her ability to effect change and do the impossible. Her steadfastness within the film speaks to the almost delusional self confidence that is needed to achieve monumental things, the message writer/director John Ridley was almost assuredly pursuing. King does well in transforming into the historic Congresswoman, capturing her Bajan accent in addition to her rugged determination as a political candidate.
The supporting cast does an adequate job in portraying the small but scrappy team that Congresswoman Chisholm compiles to help her organize her campaign, led by the late Lance Reddick as Mac Holder. Michael Cherrie also shines as the Congresswoman’s husband Conrad, with their relationship exploring the personal toll that trailblazing a path can have on the person seeking to forge a new, unfamiliar path.
The film’s decent but not great performances from its actors mirror the overall tenor of Shirley which plays as a by-the-numbers inspirational biopic that is barely above movie of the week status. Technically, the film is very flat and features no standout camera movement or dynamic lighting, coloring, framing, or anything else that would make its cinematography pop. Similarly, Shirley’s plot and story don’t differ from what you would expect from an overcoming the odds biopic and therefore fails to offer anything compelling to pull the audience in. While nothing in the film is particularly bad in terms of its structure or how it’s made, nothing is particularly good either. A form of purgatory that puts the film in the ho-hum category of being serviceable rather than something that demands to be seen for one reason or another. Unlike the figure on which it’s based, Shirley is kind of just…there making no big waves in either direction. Perhaps there’s a compelling story in the tale of Shirley Chisholm’s run for President, you just won’t find it here.
Image: Netflix
