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Here are some of the questions that help Shola Lynch form a creative starting point for the Angela Davis Film (out today in select theaters).

_“Her image is known. Her face and name is known, but we don’t know her story and it’s only these scant details. So, why has she become so important as an image? What’s the story behind that image? How do we add that third dimension so she’s not just two dimensional and flat? What is the story? How did she become an international political icon in the 70s?_”____ _{Shola Lynch}

Taken from a Quinn Peterson Life & Times Interview, Lynch believes, the questions will help viewers understand the Angela Davis Story better. Agreed! Exploring these questions and others will help us understand the icon and what she stood for without focusing too much on the aspects of how she went wrong. Considering the values of Davis, how they are like our own or different, takes us to a place of self introspection. Being at that point is necessary if we are to begin to understand ourselves better. The evaluation process is a vital part of problem solving. Each of us will make evaluations differently, depending on our situation and beliefs. In the end, what we learn about ourselves and what we take away is most important.

Understanding that change begins with self is key once a determination is made that something went wrong. A film like Free Angela Davis And All Political Prisoners will always be controversial and should be. Thinking it through, the message of the film is so much more.

It is a reminder that even during a time of the worst circumstances there were people who were not afraid to speak up and take a stand for their beliefs. The movie is also a way to give voice to it's creator/anyone who feels silenced. Let's face facts. There are people who want to silence yo for one reason or another in this world. Although, clearly it is mostly because of their own fear of how great we could be, it is also because of their need to feel superior or feel in control. Trying to silence others does not put them in control really, it just shows that they are afraid to compete without cheating. Competition is never wrong. The only wrong thing is the mix matched fort of arms coming against those in this thing called life.

Shola Lynch is telling the Angela Davis Story through her eyes, from the aspect of Angela Davis the woman, according to her Life & Times interview. Lynch focused on Angela Davis' interaction with other people the most. Those she were in relationship with personally, romantically and politically. It is a direction Lynch believed would make the story more clear and personal without taking away her voice. A few neat things about the film is that Eisa Davis Angela's niece plays her role and Lynch uses archival footage, photographs, headlines, FBI files to create what she calls her approach a way of recreate the feeling of the time. Find out more Here.