I guess I was never paying attention during history class. But I did not know how closely the FBI was spying on King. And they were trying to extort him as a philanderer because they believed he was a plausible national threat?

I thought this was an interesting look inside the life of Martin Luther King as he leads his people to freedom while the FBI keeps close tabs on him. It thought it was also a dark period for Hoover plus the people of America for their treatment of King plus other African-Americans in the 60s. I look forward to Feb. 2027 when more tapes will be released of MLK by the FBI, but just seems strange we need to wait so long, similar to the JFK news releases

I'd recommend this movie for history buffs and any civil rights activists

Extremely slow and thorough and this documentary sometimes gets caught chasing its own tail, but overall this is an enlightening look at how bad our government is in the United States. The FBI was dirty, no surprise there, but how dirty will blow your mind. While I enjoyed this film, it was distracting for me to not see any talking heads. The decision to only include archive footage and audio from people interviewed recently was odd. Plenty to dig into with this one! Final Score: 7.4/10

Maybe the most boring documentary ever made. No new information. Exhaustingly long. Dreadfully bad. They uncover NOTHING new. How is this not universally panned? So bad.

"Looking at the FBI campaigns against King, the Black Panther party, and many other people I think there's a core component to this that really is structural and functional. People hold these attitudes and we focus on J. Edgar Hoover's own particular history and person, but I think that these are attitudes that have been core to how the racial order operates in the U.S. What helped motivate these campaigns was the real fear that black people could undermine the way the country wanted to see itself. And this manifested itself not only in the targeting of leaders and the people that were visible, but of ordinary people. So, this core fear and aggression toward African Americans has a lot to do with white people's own conception of themselves and black people forcing a reckoning with the violence of the American past." Hot. Damn.

Good but a bit of a disappointment - I don't think I really learned anything..... and what was with the dozen plus clips from old Hollywood movies?

Sobering look at how those who control our government will go to eliminate a threat to the status quo benefitting those with power

Horrible use of film who claims the focus was to "shame" the FBI for filming Dr. King but whose real intent was to cast shade/doubt on Dr. Martin Luther King's legacy. An abomination and disgrace to documentaries worldwide. Have some class, talk about good things in people and try it again! If we went after everything the writers of the film did that was bad, I'm sure we could easily frame a ludicrous picture of them as well. I'm requesting a refund.

Very informative, especially with all the political climate these days. I live documentaries anyways.

i think that the response of some tackily-dressed southern white woman to the question, 'what do you think of martin luther king?' was, 'well, i don't care for him. he's too bossy. thinks he's too smart.' pretty much sums it up...

Amazing portrayal of King and Hoover's shenanigans.

The film doesn't shy away from putting a spotlight on the warts of Martin Luther King's life while also suggesting that King deserves to be a civil-rights icon. The way the film features FBI text is also engaging, intriguing and innovative.

It could not be more timely to learn how much the fight for racial justice was always considered a threat to the default American power structure. What a brilliant and powerful film!

I'm not as smitten as most. For me the movie didn't provided much more insight and info than had the trailer I'd seen weeks before. The FBI records referenced throughout this documentary will be released in 2027; it some ways this was released 6 years too soon. The information revealed in this movie (the FBI wanted to discredit King on moral grounds and to that end used surveillance to record his extramarital affairs that they then threatened him with as well as sent to his wife and leadership of the SCLC) is infuriating and maddening. So see this film to know of it -- but evidence to support this premise could have been presented in a fraction of the time. This is an old school talking-head documentary that feels less than exceptional to me.