Growing up, I was surrounded by friends and family who were generally agnostic to the idea that there is any real difference between governmental candidates and carried a general distrust of politicians, particularly those who seemed to be driven less by serving their constituents and more the ego and agenda tacked onto whatever campaign they were running. However, there was always one person who seemed to avoid factoring into these sometimes bleak conversations, the formidable and brilliant Shirley Chisolm, whose efforts to change United States politics may not have had the outcome she may have wanted, but she still made history the first black woman to run for President of the United States, a campaign that was ultimately not successful, but yet remains one of the most important chapters in the country’s political history, both for the period in which it took place and the aftermath of her efforts. The embodiment of resilience and tenacity, Chisolm has been a role model for many over the years and remains a truly aspirational figure in the country’s political history, even two decades after her death. She is the subject of Shirley, in which John Ridley realises his long-gestating desire to tell her story, particularly her campaign for the White House, in which she intended to take on the institution by presenting the American people with a very simple fact: the country belongs to them. Their vote should not be swayed by extravagant campaigns and broken promises, but rather by the desire to have a candidate in the presidency who cares for their interests and will fight for them with everything she has to give. Ridley crafts a fascinating and complex character study around this icon of political rebellion takes a relatively simple subject and redefines it into being the foundation of a truly inspiring biographical drama.

It has been over fifty years since Chisolm ran for President of the United States, and she was certainly not the last woman (or even a woman of colour) to seek out the nomination for her party’s nomination. To date, we have obviously only seen one female candidate make it to being selected as the presidential candidate for one of the two major American political parties, and some may argue others who mounted campaigns over the years went further, and technically should be considered more successful. Yet, it’s Chisolm that remains one of the cornerstone figures in the discussion around a progressive depiction of politics. The reasons for this are very clear: she was not dubbed “The Fighting Shirley Chisolm” for nothing, her entire life, from her first week as an elected member of the House of Representatives (the first woman of colour to hold that position) to the very end of her trailblazing career. The film chooses to focus on her presidential campaign since it intended to explore her efforts to change the face of American politics in detail, and it was this period that saw some of her most impactful work. For many, the idea of any woman, let alone a woman of colour, being elected to lead the country was an insurmountable challenge that bordered on foolish (half a century later, we are not any closer to seeing her ambitious realized), but she shook the entire nation and forced them to pay attention to her efforts, to the point where even her eventual loss could be repurposed as a different kind of victory. Ridley pays attention to all these details as he undergoes the careful, laborious process of exploring Chisolm’s life and career in vivid, earnest detail throughout the entirety of Shirley, a film that is superbly well-researched and executed with a lot of empathy.

There have been efforts to bring Chisolm’s story to screen on a few occasions, and while she has been portrayed exceptionally well by a range of other artists in various projects, none of them was as notable as having a major film centring on her life, especially since she was usually a supporting player rather than the main attraction. It ultimately fell to Regina King, whose career is filled with extraordinary performances, to occupy Chisolm’s shoes, bringing this character to life with her steadfast, dedicated performance. Chisolm was an eccentric – her unique sense of style, speech patterns and overall persona made her an outsider in Washington D.C., which is something she weaponized as the backbone of her political career. As a result, the task of portraying her on-screen entailed the challenge of finding the right balance between her endearing peculiarities and her hard work, the two existing in tandem when we look at her career. King is not one for excess in her performances, and in many ways, her tendency to never overplay any character is the film’s greatest asset – she manages to portray Chisolm as this unique, steadfast woman with a strong personality, but never once turns her into a caricature, which is vitally important. Instead, she follows a more elegant path to filling her shoes. capturing her spirit and paying tribute in her way. She is joined by a terrific supporting cast – the brilliant Lance Reddick is exceptional in one of his final performances, as are Terrence Howard, Lucas Hedges and Brian Stokes Mitchell, who play important members of the Chisolm campaign. It may be defined by King’s mighty performance, but much like the campaign it depicts, Shirley was a truly communal effort, and the only reason the central performance makes so much of an impact is because of the supporting players that surround it, elevating it to the point of being truly unforgettable.

Understandably, political dramas are not always considered the most exciting or essential films, and except for those that stand out because of some particularly notable quality, they are often viewed as being the cinematic equivalent of high school history homework, which is not an opinion I share, but one that does drive the industry when it comes to these kinds of films. Shirley is not a particularly unique film, and it isn’t necessarily constituted from bespoke elements. However, it still contains qualities that make it a lot more invigorating than the majority of similarly-themed films. One of them is that it isn’t too concerned with the mechanics of the political campaign, but rather presents a more thorough, complete depiction of Chisolm’s efforts to dismantle the patriarchy. It is a film made not only to tell her story, which is inspiring on its own but to motivate those who find themselves in communities that are not always represented on the political stage as widely as they should be. We can put the politics of this film aside in favour of looking at it as a social and cultural statement – Chisolm was an inspiring figure solely for her ability to defy expectations, fighting a cause she knew was very difficult to overcome, but which she did solely for the sake of making sure that the future was bright for those who could bypass these obstacles. I think we can assume Chisolm knew she would not be president – she was not delusional, but she likely knew it was not the right time for someone like her to hold an office without some kind of obstacle in her way. However, she set the groundwork for generations of people who feasibly could aspire to earn such a victory. True progress doesn’t always entail winning but also carefully calculated failures that allow a path to form towards an eventual triumph. This is portrayed beautifully in Shirley, which focuses less on the didactic commentary and more on capturing the essence of defiance that defined Chisolm as a public figure.

If there is one shortcoming to Shirley, it is that we did not get to see much more of her incredible career. Unfortunately, after she failed to be voted in as the Democratic representative in the 1972 presidential election, Chisolm instead redirected her time to her work in Congress, meaning that she continued to work in politics, but not in a position where she was particularly visible. Yet, she continued to fight her a variety of causes, and until the very end of her life was a fervent activist and political figure who represented the Civil Rights Movement as one of its most integral and groundbreaking figures. Shirley works to preserve her legacy without placing her on a pedestal – this self-titled “schoolteacher from Brooklyn” changed American politics in a small but substantial way, and continues to be a truly inspiring figure. Her efforts represent watershed moments of politics at a time when people like her were considered privileged just to be afforded a place at the table, but as a result of her steadfast efforts, representation only became more prominent as time went on, to the point where it isn’t viewed as fortunate to have diversity in positions of power, but necessary and compulsory elements in every sphere. Shirley doesn’t offer anything we haven’t seen a dozen times before when it comes to these well-made, mid-level political dramas, but it’s the intention and fervent belief in its message that elevates the material and makes it such an impactful, important piece of storytelling that may not reinvent the genre, but instead offers a truly inspiring, meaningful story of someone dedicated for fighting for a cause she believed in, and whose work still resonates throughout American politics to this day.