‘Shirley’ Review: In a Docudrama About the 1972 Presidential Campaign, Regina King Plays Shirley Chisholm in All Her Contained Fervor
variety.comOwen Gleiberman Chief Film Critic At a glance, Shirley Chisholm’s 1972 campaign for president was the definition of quixotic.
She was 47 years old; at the time, she had served only one term (starting in 1968) as the first Black woman to be elected to Congress. (Her district centered on the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn.) To say that Chisholm wasn’t a seasoned Washington, D.C., player would be putting it mildly, and she looked the part of the outsider.
She wore puffy wigs, schoolmarm glasses, and tasteful print dresses. There was a slightly prim stoicism about her, though she lit up whenever she flashed her smile with the gap tooth on the right side.
She looked like who she was — a day-care supervisor from Bed-Stuy, and a devout Christian. But her persona didn’t end there.
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