Privileged film industry types complaining about a lack of Oscar nominations annoys me, but in the case of Selma, I'm right there with them. A movie as powerful, honest and visually arresting as Ava DuVernay's civil rights drama about Martin Luther King deserves to be acknowledged and though it has a Best Picture nomination, the director's name is nowhere to be seen.

DuVernay's interpretation of the 1965 protest march against the racist treatment of black voters in the South is an intelligent retelling. It is also perfectly timed as America is still in racial turmoil. Maybe the subject is too rich for Oscar's blood so soon after the glory of 12 Years A Slave, but to overlook British actor David Oyelowo as King is a travesty. His study of the man as an iconic leader and questioning human being is faultless and there are scenes so loaded with emotion, his pain is tangible.

With Brits Tom Wilkinson as President Lyndon B. Johnson and Tim Roth as Alabama's bigoted governor, I've no doubt American actors must be spitting feathers.

For me, the most shocking scene in Selma is the killing of 26-year-old Jimmie Lee Jackson, a peaceful protester shot by a state trooper while protecting his grandfather. It is so awful that I googled Jackson afterwards only to discover that his killer - James Bonard Fowler - was finally arrested and pleaded guilty to manslaughter in 2007, and served only six months.

Just another reason for Selma to win Best Picture on Oscar night.