Movie Reviews #63: review of BlacKkKlansman…
[Note from Steve: This is a special, unannounced posting. I thought it was important to post this review.]
BlacKkKlansman. Spike Lee, dir. Two cops infiltrate the KKK chapter in Colorado Springs. The black cop, Ron Stallworth (played by John David Washington), provides the voice on the telephone; and the white cop, Flip Zimmerman (played by Adam Driver), provides the body. There are some comical moments in this true story based on Stallworth’s book (same title minus the extra K), but this is serious stuff. The KKK chapter is filled with racists, bigots, and haters yearning for a white America where other inferior races are their slaves. The dialogue is filled with the N-word and the K-word (for Jews), and both cops have their heritage attacked consistently and have to grin and bear it. There are some close calls and some sad notes about relationships in politically charged atmospheres even among the same race.
Harry Belafonte has a cameo where he’s telling to a group of blacks the history of a black teen who was tortured by a crowd. The crowd cheered. The organizers of the event made post cards of it and sold them—they were shown, black and white photos of an atrocity racists celebrated.
Spike Lee has done a great job letting the historical events speak for themselves. The acting is a wee bit stereotyped (maybe for this reason?), but the movie is powerful and moving. It’s probably Lee’s best movie. I could have done without the beginning (it seemed to just provide a role for Alec Baldwin) and the end that connects with our current problems (viewers in the audiences will already have made the connections with the current administration’s actions). The movie would have been more powerful, shorter, and still packing a punch without that beginning and end. I know why Lee included the end; I just think it was overkill. Movie goers who couldn’t make those connections have their heads in the sand to begin with; the movie is wasted on them.
As part of the coverage of the first anniversary of the Charlottesville riots, I watched CNN interview the KKK grand wizard who was arrested a year ago for trying to kill a black man during those events. We hear every day Mr. Trump’s MAGA slogan and “America First,” but in the movie we see that David Duke coined those. Times change, but too many problems stay the same. This movie offers both a steamy, historical biopic as well as a current look at the bigotry and hatred that still plague our nation. I’m afraid it won’t be popular with America’s current bigots and haters, but the truth never is.
***
In libris libertas!
