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| Adam Driver (left) and John David Washington in "BlacKkKlansman" Photo Credit: Imdb.com |
Spike Lee's a filmmaker who’s able to challenge his audiences with narratives that focus on social and political issues that resonate through our lives. His portraits of race relations in America have been emblazoned in cinema across the last few decades, with films like his 1989 comedy-drama, “Do the Right Thing”; his 1991 romantic-drama, “Jungle Fever”; and his 1992 biopic, “Malcolm X.” What’s respectable about Lee’s approach to storytelling is that, although he tends to shed light on certain topics that may be challenging to discuss, he doesn’t care about that because he’s determined to say what he has to say.
For his latest film, the hard-hitting true-story crime drama, “BlacKkKlansman,” Lee delivers a film that’s timely in the issues that it tackles and has a power that escalates from one frame to the next.
In 1972, Ron Stallworth (John David Washington) applies to the Colorado Springs Police Department and becomes their first African-American detective. He’s tasked with working in the records room, but he knows that he’s capable of more. Ron soon formulates a plan for him and his team to infiltrate and take down the local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan.
Washington (son of Denzel Washington), provides an understated, yet powerful performance. From his opening moments, Washington provides layers to his character as we see a man who knows that he has to keep his emotions in check while on the job. When he’s being interviewed by the police chief (Robert John Burke) and one of his colleagues (Isiah Whitlock, Jr.), a racial epithet is spoken; not directed at Ron, but as a way to get a point across. Washington has Ron show brief facial expressions that this word bothers him, but we see that he has to keep a level head in order to do his job. Washington shows us this internal conflict throughout the film when there are certain things that he’s asked to do, even if he’s not sure whether or not they’re right. All of this culminates in a performance that offers the film a tension that has us wondering how Ron is going to grow throughout the story, and the complexities that Washington brings to his character add many layers to his arc.
Adam Driver offers an emotional performance as Detective Flip Zimmerman, who becomes the police department’s man on the inside during the investigation. As he does this, Zimmerman experiences the hatred that the KKK has for his people, which are those of the Jewish faith (the KKK doesn’t know that he’s Jewish); but, just like Stallworth, he has to retain his composure and resist the urge to express anger over the derogatory things that are said about his people. This helps to tie into one of the best scenes of the film where Flip explains to Stallworth that, throughout this life, he never saw himself as Jewish and that his family didn’t do much to practice Judaism. However, at this point, his character realizes that he should cherish his background and be proud of it, and it’s here where Driver expresses the pain that he’s felt with the verbal attacks on his people, and it results in a poignant heart-to-heart with Stallworth as the film goes deeper into its themes of racial and religious identity.
Laura Harrier is wonderful as Patrice Dumas, the president of Colorado College’s black student union. Whenever Harrier’s on screen, you get caught up in the energy and passion that she brings to her character’s fight for racial equality, and it inspires you as you watch her lead these young students towards the societal changes that they deserve.
Corey Hawkins appears in just one scene as Kwame Ture, an organizer in the Civil Rights Movement, as he delivers a speech at a meeting of the aforementioned black student union. His performance is so impactful that it’s a shame that he doesn’t appear more, but even though he has a limited amount of screen time, he makes the most out of this sequence and gives you goosebumps because of how commanding he is in only these few minutes.
When it comes to the cinematography, Chayse Irwin’s camerawork has stunning shots aplenty, but one scene in which it stands out is in the scene with Ture. As he addresses the college students, the camera keeps cutting to close-ups of the faces in the crowd as they remain enthralled in Ture’s speech and show motivation to continue their effort for equality, and it all brings a beauty to this scene where we feel a lot of hope, despite the hatred that lingers in the community.
The screenplay by Lee, David Rabinowitz, Charlie Wachtel, and Kevin Willmott, which is based on Stallworth’s 2014 memoir, “Black Klansman,” is a hard-hitting portrait of one of the many historical occurrences during the Civil Rights Movement, and the writers go in-depth with the political and social views of all of their characters, providing you with a detailed look at this era in American history and those who were involved in the events of the film.
A noteworthy aspect of the narrative is how there are occasions when the writers focus on the racist depictions of African-Americans in the media, similar to what Lee did with his 2000 comedy-drama, “Bamboozled.” One such example is a scene in which the local chapter of the KKK watches D.W. Griffith’s 1915 film, “The Birth of a Nation,” where the Klan members and their families enjoy the racist portrayals of African-American men. Meanwhile, earlier in the film, Ron and Patrice discuss the portrayal of African-Americans in Blaxploitation films, where Ron isn’t bothered by those portrayals, but Patrice views them as doing a disservice to their race. Then, at the end of the film, Lee composes a shot that frames Ron and Patrice in a battle-ready pose that’s similar to something that you might see in a Blaxploitation movie, which reflects how those movies gave African-Americans many opportunities to be the heroes in film.
The writers also tackle a certain type of racist portrayal of African-Americans that was seen in early twentieth-century media. What the writers do is make a comical response to the depiction of subservient African-Americans that were shown in movies and use it for the character of Connie Kendrickson (Ashlie Atkinson), a wife who’s always there to serve the demands of her husband, Klan member Felix Kendrickson (Jasper Pääkkönen).
Going back to what I mentioned earlier about Lee refusing to hold back in his vision, not only does he allow us to experience the full force of the message that he’s trying to convey in the narrative, but he also does this with painful effect in the film’s epilogue, which has some of the most heartbreaking and enraging moments that you’ll see in a movie all year. It’s here where Lee emphasizes the racism that’s still present today and implores us to help make a difference that will change our country for the better.
A lot of times, the movies that are often difficult to watch are those that are most necessary for us to view. “BlacKkKlansman” is one of them.
Grade: A
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