Spike Lee has a career that spans for over thirty years, and encompasses over twenty films. However, it’s his latest, BlacKkKlansman, that is without a doubt his most important film, arguably even surpassing the cultural significance of his most famous film, Do the Right Thing. In today’s political climate where we’re faced with many of the same issues that were just as prevalent during the time period set in this film, BlacKkKlansman is not just an entertaining movie, but one that’s both relevant and informative.
The film follows the true story of Ron Stallworth (John David Washington), the first black officer at the Colorado Springs Police Division, who works way into the intelligence division as an undercover agent. He soon gets on the phone with members of the Ku Klux Klan, posing as a white man and immediately grabbing their attention with overtly racist rhetoric. When it comes time to meet the Klan face to face, Stallworth sends his coworker Flip Zimmerman (Adam Driver), in his place. Flip has the unfortunate distinction of being a Jewish man who has to not only pretend not to be Jewish in front of the Klan, but do so using a black man’s name. The duo eventually get the attention of Grand Wizard David Duke (Topher Grace), and the film takes us on their journey as they infiltrate through the Klan’s ranks.
The film is one part laugh-out-loud comedy, one part gripping action thriller, one part compelling drama, and even to an extent one part brutal horror. Lee brilliantly weaves in all of these elements together to make for an extremely engaging satire. The film draws many parallels to a lot of real world events that were occurring at the time of its release (something that’s made explicitly clear in a montage towards the end of the film). At times, it can feel almost uncomfortable to watch, with the way certain characters are treated reminding us of present day events. But Lee brilliantly uses plenty of humor to alleviate a lot of this, without downplaying how grave the situation truly is.
Take the Klansmen that Ron and Flip are fooling, for example. They are total idiots, being easily duped by the two detectives. They immediately buy into the ruse, and if they ever cast a shred of doubt, all either Ron or Flip have to do is start screaming over-the-top horrible epithets, and they’re immediately sucked right back in. What Ron and Flip say isn’t funny, but watching these group of people so consumed by hatred that they believe just about anything does get some really good laughs. They feel almost like cartoon characters.
Yet, Lee never downplays how dangerous they truly are. They may easily get tricked by the two cops, but they’re not dumbed down to the point that they’re no longer capable of harming other individuals. They act like cartoon characters and have some over-the-top personalities, but when it comes to their tasks at hand, they are incredibly focused, which makes for some of the film’s most horrifying moments. Lee uses the Klansmen to show that just because someone is unintelligent and gullible, doesn’t make them any less of a threat if their intentions are so skewed in the direction of hatred, especially if they’re placed in a position of power, just like the Klansmen.
Lee also takes aim at multiple older films that were originally hailed as classics, yet have aged horribly due to their many racist overtones. The film opens with a clip of Gone With the Wind, hailed as one of the greatest films of all time, yet still criticized for its overt use of racial stereotypes and inaccurate portrayal of slavery. The film is screened by a doctor played by Alec Baldwin, who then uses it to start spewing racist propaganda, only to repeatedly flub his lines, showing how he’s simply blindly repeating what he just saw on screen.
The film also contains an extended sequence of the Klansmen watching D.W. Griffith’s The Birth of a Nation, once hailed as a classic but has since been criticized for its portrayal of the Klan as heroes, something which was once downplayed in Lee’s NYU class. Lee shows us how powerful cinema can be if its views are skewed in the wrong direction, and how it can easily empower the worst types of people.
The story can feel ridiculous - something which is pointed out in the film’s tagline. It almost has this “you have to see it to believe it” feel to it. And there’s this great sense of self-awareness with just how silly things can be sometimes, without ever getting to the point of over-the-top parody. Seeing Ron and the others get so giddy with laughter each time they successfully fool the Klansmen can easily put a smile on our own faces. Even they almost can’t believe how easy it is to trick these people and each time they're victorious, they’re so incredibly overcome with joy that we want to be right there with them.
The film contains a ton of great performances. Most notably from John David Washington and Adam Driver. Washington channels almost the exact same energy we would see from his father, frequent Lee collaborator Denzel, without ever doing a full-on impersonation of the senior Washington. He plays Ron with such a cool collectedness and a brilliant sense of self-awareness. He knows how grave the situation he’s facing is, yet still manages to have fun each time he’s on the phone essentially mocking the Klansmen and putting on a big song and dance for them, easily tricking them with the things they enjoy hearing.
Driver brings an incredible sense of nuance to his role. As the man who has to consistently face the Klansmen, he is visibly shaken each time he’s around them, and he’s especially uncomfortable having to shout a slew of racial epithets that he obviously doesn’t agree with. But we're not given some sort of extended monologue showing us how conflicted he is. It’s written all in his facial expressions and body language. We can see how frightened he truly is, yet it’s never explicitly stated, making him feel like such a real character. This also makes it all the more satisfying each time he and Ron pull off a successful meeting with the Klan and feel their own sense of power for it.
The film contains an incredible supporting cast, including Laura Harrier as Ron’s love interest, Corey Hawkins as civil rights leader Kwame Ture, and Harry Belafonte in one of the film’s most gripping sequence, where he explains the horrors of the Klan, spliced between the Klan at the aforementioned Birth of a Nation screening. Topher Grace is the only sort-of weak spot in terms of the acting. While his performance wasn’t outright bad, one doesn’t get the clear sense of danger that he’s meant to pose. His delivery can sometimes feel monotonous and while the real David Duke is meant to come off as a bit more charismatic, rather than outright menacing like the people who follow him, Grace fails to even capture that feel at times. He’s not bad overall, but there are times where one doesn’t get a sense of conviction from his delivery.
BlacKkKlansman is Lee’s 22nd film, and is arguably his greatest. It contains plenty of excellent, almost crowd-pleasing performances, especially from its two main leads. It’s a brilliant satire, with plenty of laugh-out-loud moments that help alleviate some of the horrors that take place throughout the film. It draws plenty of excellent parallels to real world events that make it a timely effort. It has a clear message, and it’s executed brilliantly. Not only is BlacKkKlansman incredibly entertaining, but it’s extremely important as well.
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