Four Little Girls Analysis

Spike Lee’s film, Four Little Girls, is a historical documentary about the 16th St. Baptist Church bombing that took place on September 15, 1963 in Birmingham, Alabama. According to Rodger Elbert, who reviewed this film shortly after it came out in 1997, Spike Lee, who directed the film was able to bring the back to life by including photographs, videos and interviews with the family members of the four little girls who were killed in that bombing. In addition to capturing the lives of the lives of the little girls who were killed, Spike Lee also highlights some of the major struggles that African Americans faced during this time in America, and more specifically the struggles faced in Birmingham, Alabama. By not only focusing on the actual bombing, and instead incorporating the events leading up to and following the bombing allowed Lee to show a more comprehensive look at how times were before the bombing and how they would change following the bombing. This documentary begins with the interviewing of family members of all four of the little girls who were killed including Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, Addie Mae Collins and Cynthia Wesley. The firsthand accounts allow the audience to make a personal …show more content…
Instead this film is able to highlight this bombing as a sort of turning point in the struggle of African American to gain their equal rights. This can be seen through the images clips and interviews that Lee compiled. By using the multiple accounts from the friends, family, and influential leaders of this time, Lee was able to convey his narrative with a little more of a personal touch then if the narration had been done by a omniscient narrator. The interviews are able to have a more profound effect on the audience because the emotion can clearly be