Director: Spike Lee Starring: John David Washington, Adam Driver, Laura Harrier, Topher Grace Studio: Focus Features Genre(s): Comedy/Drama Rated: R (For language throughout, including racial epithets, and for disturbing/violent material and some sexual references) |
The story for “BlacKkKlansman” sounds like it could be the
setup for either a really racist joke or a bad skit on “Saturday Night Live”: A
black man answers an ad in the paper and joins the Ku Klux Klan. I’m certain there are a fair number of you
who are wondering what such a sketch might actually look like, but the truth of
the matter is this really happened. A
black cop by the name of Ron Stallworth actually managed to do this, and as a
result he has one of the craziest stories to tell. What’s more, it’s a story that almost didn’t
happen. Ron (John David Washington)
signed up to be a cop in the Colorado Springs police department. He was the first black cop the department has
on the payroll (which would have made his story worth telling alone), and, as a
result, is pretty much banished to the records room, where the department can
claim they are taking steps towards progress without having him do
anything. He seems to have a knack for
blending into large crowds of black people, which leads to assignments of him
infiltrating Black Panther meetings.
However, Ron has been so busy trying to assimilate into the
world of white men, that he has a gift of sounding white over the phone. Which, now that I think about it, makes this
the SECOND movie this year to tackle this topic (the first being “Sorry to
Bother You”)! This leads him to
discovering an ad for the Ku Klux Klan, making a call, and then being asked to
join the nasty mob. It was one of those
situations where he was expecting nothing more than to get a pamphlet or two
but was so convincing he had an ‘in’ to a group of people that police had been
unable (or unwilling) to infiltrate for years.
Of course, we all know he can’t just walk up to these people and call it
a day. He needs a body double for the
meetings themselves, while he plays the part over the phone to gather
information. He gets help from Detective
Flip Zimmerman (Adam Driver), a Jewish born man who gladly takes on the assignment
but is unprepared for the hate he must face in the form of men gleefully
calling his family ‘kikes’ and ‘Jesus killers.’
The scenes are funny because these men are stupid and
shortsighted, unable to see how ridiculous they really are. The scenes are also uncomfortable because
they are convinced that their ideals are 100% true and pure, and you know that
no amount of common sense or love will get them to change. Take the phone conversations between Ron and
the ‘Grand Wizard’ of the KKK, David Duke (Topher Grace). They are fascinating to watch because when
they aren’t talking race David seems like a nice guy. When nationalism comes into the conversation
the vile words of hate and racism flow out of him so easily – so casually even –
that for him, he isn’t so much a hateful guy, it’s just that his way of looking
at the world is a matter of fact. He’s
almost as bad as those people who tell me that the world is flat in such a
casual tone that I know there is no potential to convince them of how wrong
their thinking is. It is amazing how
funny and terribly painful it all is to watch.
With that in mind, director Spike Lee is a smart man. He is provocative with his films, yes, but he
is not stupid. He doesn’t rattle the
cage just to rattle it. He includes
several scenes of black activists, tired of being mistreated by police, vowing
to rise up and show how powerful they really are. Scenes that cut back and forth between people
shouting, “white power” and “black power” make the most powerful statement,
because if we can’t learn to talk to one another, then racism will never truly
go away. It is a point that was very poignantly
made years ago in “Do the Right Thing,” and it is just as important now. Maybe even more so. After all, we aren’t so far removed from the
events of Charlottesville (an event powerfully woven into the final act), and
the country is more racially divided than any other time I can think of. Scenes of the KKK even rebranding themselves
from a ‘cult’ to an ‘organization’ is another reminder of how far people will
go to normalize hatred.
Frankly, we need a movie like “BlacKkKlansman” to not only
highlight the stupidity of racism, but to highlight the danger of it
continuing, and how much we have to lose because of it. This is one of Lee’s absolute best films to
date. He is a much more confident director
these days then he used to be, and the performances he gets out of his cast is
nothing short of star making.
Particularly that of John David Washington (son of Denzel), who commands
the screen whenever he is on it, and has the likability factor that is key to
making even the detractors root for the guy.
At one point during the film a black man discusses what it was like
living in America during the popularity of the classic film “The Birth of a
Nation,” and how much hate it helped spread.
It was a film so fundamentally wrong in its case for evil, yet it was
powerful enough that even the President of the United States said it was like ‘writing
history with lightening.’ Another
reminder, it seems, that film has just as much power to do harm as it does
good. Thankfully, “BlacKkKlansman” is
one of the movies that will do much more good in this world and is a movie that
truly is like ‘writing history with lightening.’
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| CONSUMER ADVICE |
Parents, there is obviously a LOT of foul language, racial slurs, sexual comments, and overall nastiness in the language! Violence and disturbing imagery is also part of the picture. That said...because of the importance of the message, I think I would be comfortable with mature teens watching this with an adult. Recommended for ages 14 and up (with a parent or guardian).
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