I wish Spike Lee did more with comedy. I think he has a knack for it. Maybe it’s just the somewhat humorous situation of the film’s premise, but I view BlacKkKlansman as a genuinely funny movie. Now, don’t go into it expecting an all-out comedy – it’s definitely not – but it’s better than most of his films that don’t ease up on the tension to allow breathing room. I’m also a sucker for true stories, the stranger the better, and this is a very strange, true story. Another high point for the film is the introduction of John David Washington, Denzel’s son, who plays Ron Stallworth. Hopefully, his star status continues to rise because he’s great in the film.

Ron Stallworth moves to Colorado Springs in 1972 and gets hired on with the police department, becoming the city’s first Black police officer. After spending time in the records department, he asks for a transfer to be an undercover cop. His first assignment is to attend a Kwame Ture lecture and report his observations back. At the rally, Ron meets Patrice, leader of the Black Student Union at the local college. After the rally, Patrice and Kwame Ture are pulled over and aggressively manhandled by a racist officer in Ron’s precinct. Later, Ron reads an ad in the paper that seeks to revive the local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan and calls the number listed, posing as a White man interested in joining. After the call, he realizes that he used his real name on the phone and he will have to meet these people in person, so he recruits a Jewish coworker, Flip, to pose as him for the in-person meetings. At the meeting, Flip is introduced to Walter, Felix and Ivanhoe, the three current members of the chapter. In an attempt to push his membership paperwork through faster, Ron calls the KKK headquarters in New Orleans and speaks with the Grand Wizard, David Duke. The two begin regular phone conversations and David personally sees to his application. Ron and Patrice begin a romantic relationship, but Ron does not disclose that he is a cop. It is later announced that David Duke is coming to Colorado Springs for Ron’s induction into the KKK, and while Flip will be playing Ron’s part for the induction, the real Ron is put on security detail for David Duke. During the ceremony, Ron notices Felix’s wife, Connie, leaving the ceremony. Realizing that she is going to plan a bomb at a nearby civil rights rally, Ron follows her and alerts the local police. Connie notices heavy police presence at the rally, so instead, she puts the bomb under Patrice’s car. Ron tackles her before she can flee, but some nearby policemen witness the situation and beat Ron despite his claims that he’s an undercover cop. Felix, Ivanhoe and the guy who made the bomb, Walker, park right by Patrice’s car, unaware that is where the bomb is instead of at the rally, and detonate it, killing themselves. Flip arrives at the police station, releases Ron and arrests Connie. Sometime after the induction, Ron calls up David Duke and very emphatically reveals that he is a Black man.

Spike Lee received flack from some in the Black community for showing some of the cops in the film as good guys (I’m sure he received flack from others for making some of them bad guys, too), but Lee responded with the comment that while he has made films criticizing police, he would never say that all police are corrupt or that they all hate people of color. I’m sure it’s a struggle to present a nuanced film about such a sensitive topic, but I think Lee succeeds with this film. Having said that, Spike Lee is also very good at propaganda. He ends this film with a montage of footage from the Unite the Right rally that happened in Charlottesville, Virginia back in 2017, specifically the footage of the person that ran over protestors of the rally with their car. There is also footage of David Duke around the time of the rally, making a speech praising what President Donald Trump will do for the White community. It intends to stir up certain emotions in the viewer and it does so well. There’s a much more subtle scene in the film earlier where Harry Belafonte (in his final film role) recounts a lynching of a 17-year-old Black man named Jesse Washington that occurred in 1916. The two scenes work in contrast to point out the past of the Black struggle as well as the present, which to some, looks just as bleak. I know the topic of politics in film is a point of contention for some, but anyone who read my previous review on My Man Godfrey should know that politics have always played a role in the film industry. Spike Lee’s not subtle about it, but he does it better than most.

Bonus Review: Malcolm X

John David Washington’s father is also an actor. His name is Denzel Washington and he collaborated with Spike Lee on four films over the course of over a decade. A film about a controversial figure is bound to be controversial itself, and Malcolm X certainly was controversial. The original director, Norman Jewison (the guy who did In the Heat of the Night, if you recall), left the project because he felt like he could not make it work. There was also significant public outcry that a White man was going to direct a film about Malcolm X, so Spike Lee took over. Then there was public outcry because Lee was too middle-class to direct a film about Malcolm X, but he stayed with the film as it had always been a passion project of his. The budget was an even greater issue. Warner Bros. was incredibly stingy with the budget for a sweeping epic like this and demanded that the film be no longer than 2 hours and 15 minutes. These restrictions caused the film to be temporarily shut down during post-production. However, many prominent figures in the Black community, including Oprah, Prince, Michael Jackson, Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson and Bill Cosby, donated funds to complete the film and give Lee the reigns to make the film as he saw fit, which included an over-three-hour runtime.

Malcolm Little is a young boy when his father is killed by the local Black Legion. The death is registered as a suicide, so the family receives no compensation. Malcolm’s mother’s mental health deteriorates dramatically and she is put in a mental institution and Malcolm and his siblings are put in child care. When Malcolm is a teenager, he and his White girlfriend, Sophia, become thieves to earn money. Malcolm goes by the name Detroit Red during this time. However, they are arrested and while Sophia is given a two-year sentence as a first-time offender, Malcolm is given 8-10 years. In prison, Malcolm becomes attracted to the Muslim religion and follows the teachings of Elijah Muhammad. After he is released from prison, he travels to Chicago to meet Muhammad, who tells him to change his last name from “Little” to “X”. Malcolm goes to New York City to preach the teachings of Islam and praises the idea of the separation of White and Black Americans. He also meets a nurse named Betty Sanders. The two quickly fall in love and marry. During this time, Malcolm discovers that Elijah Muhammad has had numerous children outside his marriage, actively contradicting his teachings and the beliefs of Islam. Malcolm loses his faith in Islam and decides to create the Organization of Afro-American Unity, which promotes tolerance rather than separation of the races. He is exiled from the Nation of Islam, and one day in 1965, when he goes to speak in Harlem, he is gunned down by some of their members. The movie ends with Martin Luther King Jr. reading a eulogy at his funeral.

I imagine this film was difficult to make because so many of Malcolm X’s views turned a 180 over the course of his life. I’m sure it was difficult to reconcile these changes in viewpoint, but I think it makes the movie better. People are contradictory, almost by nature, and the characterization of Malcolm X in the movie feels genuine. It’s not only about the times when he was right, and it’s not only about the times he was wrong. It doesn’t downplay his petty criminal days and it doesn’t over-exaggerate the worship he receives by many in his community. Malcolm X was a man, first and foremost, and Malcolm X is thorough representation of that man.