The legacy of Martin Luther King continues to move onward, but not many know the truth behind his activism.
The upcoming HBO documentary, King in the Wilderness, allows the audience to learn more about Martin Luther King than what is presented in history books. Directed by Peter Kunhardt, the film focuses on the last three years of his life leading up until his assassination. With the use of archival footage and insightful conversations from his inner circle of friends, King in the Wilderness conveys a conflicted leader who, after the Voting Rights Act passed in 1965, faced an onslaught of criticism from both sides of the political spectrum; the Black Power movement saw his nonviolence as weakness, and President Lyndon B. Johnson saw his anti–Vietnam War speeches as irresponsible. And, as result, King’s fervent belief in peaceful protest became a testing point for a nation on the brink of chaos.
King in the Wilderness reveals a striking new perspective into Dr. King’s character, his radical doctrine of nonviolence, and his internal philosophical struggles prior to his assassination in 1968. With clarity and compassion, filmmaker Peter Kunhardt invites a sense of penetrating intimacy and insight into one of the most profound thinkers of our time.
In the beginning alone, King in the Wilderness sets up an extremely ominous beginning that keeps the audience fully engrossed throughout the whole film. It is packed with powerful commentary on the life of Martin Luther King Jr., and as result, one cannot help but leave the film with a large amount of insightful information pertaining to King and his life. The film itself hold so many beautiful moments that carries throughout the film, and the viewer feels as though they are there, in the midst of it all. And, with the help on interview footage with some of King’s closest friends, the viewer gains so much more insight into the world of King.
The film rewrites the narrative of who Martin Luther King Jr. truly was. Rather than feeding into the one-dimensional narratives of who King is, the film offers viewers the objective truth of his life. And, stepping away from those false narratives and myths of who King is, the documentary truly uncovers all that King was and faced in the final years of his life. The documentary features in depth interviews with John Lewis, Harry Belafonte, Marian Wright Edelman, Jesse Jackson, Joan Baez, and Andrew Young, among many others from MLK’s inner circle, living legends, as each of them knows how to create real, lasting change because they’ve done it.
The film also explores King’s activism to the activism of today; drawing in from Ferguson to Black Lives Matter to Charlottesville, the film examines the parallels between the struggles of the past and of today, and why these same problems still present themselves today.
The film is Directed and Executive Produced by Peter Kunhardt (The Newspaperman: The Life and Times of Ben Bradlee, Becoming Warren Buffett, Living with Lincoln). Executive Produced by Taylor Branch,Trey Ellis and Jacqueline Glover. Edited by Maya Mumma (O.J.: Made in America) and Steven J. Golliday (Far From The Tree).
HBO will be debuting the powerful documentary on April 2, in honor of this year being the 50th anniversary of MLK’s assassination on April 4.
You can check out the trailer for the documentary below.
