Spike Lee makes an impressive transition from fictional feature filmmaking to nonfiction with this powerful Oscar-nominated documentary. 4 LITTLE GIRLS tells the tragic story of the bombing of a basement in a black Baptist church in Birmingham, Alabama, on September 15, 1963, which killed four young girls: Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, Cynthia Wesley, and Addie May Collins. Interviews with the children's family members set up the scenario, and their memories of the explosion and aftermath provide the film with its most emotional moments. Lee uses this personal tragedy to better study the racial attitudes of America during that era and goes on to describe the impact this incident had on the civil rights movement of the 1960s and beyond. The film also features interviews with notable celebrities and historians, including Bill Cosby, Walter Cronkite, Jesse Jackson, Andrew Young, Coretta Scott King, and a rare candid appearance by former Alabama governor George Wallace. With 4 LITTLE GIRLS, Lee proves that he is once again one of America's most important chroniclers of the African-American experience.
A documentary about the tragic bombing of a basement in a black Baptist church in Birmingham, Alabama, on September 15th, 1963, which killed four young girls: Denise McNair, Carole Robertson, Cynthia Wesley, and Addie May Collins. The chronicle also examines the incident's impact on the civil rights movement of the 1960s and beyond. The film was nominated for an Oscar and is directed by Spike Lee.
Shown in a limited theatrical release, 4 LITTLE GIRLS had its television premiere on HBO.
Lee was working on this documentary at the same time he was producing and completing HE GOT GAME.
DVD Features:
Region 1
Keep Case
Single Side - Single Layer
Audio:
Dolby Digital 5.1 - English
Additional Release Material:
Featurette - 1. MAKING OF FOUR LITTLE GIRLS
Outtakes
Director of Photography
Ellen Kuras: American Cinematographer
Featured
Bill Cosby: American Actor/Comedian
Review 1:
"...[Makes Lee's dramas] look pretentious and hokey by comparison....Intensely moving....Achingly heartfelt..." -- Rating: B+
Source: Entertainment Weekly
p.90 09/04/1998
Review 2:
"...A subject that demands and gets consummate cinematic treatment..."
Source: USA Today
p.8E 8/28/1998
Review 3:
"...[An] immensely dignified and moving reassessment of a terrorist crime....A thoughtful, graceful, quietly devastating account..."
Source: New York Times
p.C11 07/09/1997
Review 4:
"...There is mostly sadness and regret at the surface in 4 LITTLE GIRLS, but there is anger in the depths, as there should be..."
Source: Chicago Sun-Times
p.33 10/24/1997