BlacKkKlansman. (15.)
Directed by Spike Lee.
Starring John David Washington, Adam Driver, Laura Harrier, Michael Buscemi, Jasper Pääkkönen, Ryan Eggold and Topher Grace. 135 mins.
I guess the idea of a black policeman infiltrating the KKK is too good to pass up, even if it doesn't actually happen. In this sort-of-based-on-a-true-story, Ron Stallworth (Washington) sees an ad for the Klan in the local paper, rings up posing as a bigot and is invited along to meet the lads. Obviously, he can't go, so they send along a white officer Flip (Driver) instead to pose as him. The complication is that the other cop is Jewish, a fact immediately suspected by the most unhinged Klan member Felix (Pääkkönen) who is keen to check out the colour of his foreskin. Stallworth keeps answering the phone, Flip keeps putting his life on the line going to meet them and you begin to wonder why he isn't the lead character in a film called Ju Klux Klan.
Maybe this is a sly subversion of the great white conspiracy theory, (as espoused by the Illinois Nazis in the Blues Brothers) that Jews are secretly manipulating the non-Aryan races to bring down the white man. Subtle if it is, but still a massive hole in the story's credibility. Why would any police force be that stupid or reckless? I can't imagine there were many police forces in the US then or now that were short of candidates who could have seamlessly infiltrated the Klan. Also, once the connection is established, why didn't Flip just take all the phone calls himself? It is established the two don't sound the same, so it would save the unnecessary risk of constant synchronising their stories.
The film is adapted from his book and the real Stallworth's story sounds fascinating and some of the smaller moments in the film, such as his encounters with Grand Wizard David Duke, are word for word accurate. These are amazing and unbelievable things, but not amazing and unbelievable enough for a major motion picture. The main thrust of the movie's tale isn't just overblown and fabricated, it's overblown and fabricated in the standard Hollywood manner: an invented love interest, a bogus race to foil a deadly plot.
Spike Lee's handling of the material is mundanely straightforward. There's not a lot to remind you of what an instinctive and inventive director he can be. In a sequence where Stallworth goes to listen to the Black Panther Stokley Carmichael speak, instead of traditional reaction shots of the crowd Lee uses posed, isolated headshots of audience members against a clear dark background. Individually and sometimes in triptychs, we see them watching on mesmerised. The effect is a little bit Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody video, but it communicates so much more than the traditional reaction shot.
It's a good enough film about an interesting story. There are plenty of laughs and some thought is provoked. In the title role, Denzel's boy has a fair amount of his old man's onscreen charisma while Driver displays a laconic calmness ideally suited for undercover work. All the cast work really well. It will please a crowd, as long as that crowd is the crowd it is designed to please.
I imagine this will receive plaudits for being “timely” and “brave” which it isn't. Possibly it would've been timely before Trump was in the White House, but now its too damn late. The attempts to make explicit digs at the current situation are really jarring, almost insulting. Banging an audience over their heads with the subtext is never wise and it's positively insulting to have the contemporary parallels bellowed into our faces like we're too stupid to grasp them ourselves.
The film may make you angry, or it may make you think. I came out wondering what ever happened to the old melting pot? In the film, a Klan initiation ceremony is intercut with a meeting of black activists where Harry Belafonte delivers a monologue about the lynching of Jesse Washington in 1916. The two gatherings conclude with choruses of “White Power” and “Black Power” respectively. The film is pitched as a conflict between two groups who believe in racial segregation, with the police force in the middle. So here's a dramatic irony for you: a Spike Lee film where the only functional, racially integrated group is a police department.
Directed by Spike Lee.
Starring John David Washington, Adam Driver, Laura Harrier, Michael Buscemi, Jasper Pääkkönen, Ryan Eggold and Topher Grace. 135 mins.
I guess the idea of a black policeman infiltrating the KKK is too good to pass up, even if it doesn't actually happen. In this sort-of-based-on-a-true-story, Ron Stallworth (Washington) sees an ad for the Klan in the local paper, rings up posing as a bigot and is invited along to meet the lads. Obviously, he can't go, so they send along a white officer Flip (Driver) instead to pose as him. The complication is that the other cop is Jewish, a fact immediately suspected by the most unhinged Klan member Felix (Pääkkönen) who is keen to check out the colour of his foreskin. Stallworth keeps answering the phone, Flip keeps putting his life on the line going to meet them and you begin to wonder why he isn't the lead character in a film called Ju Klux Klan.
Maybe this is a sly subversion of the great white conspiracy theory, (as espoused by the Illinois Nazis in the Blues Brothers) that Jews are secretly manipulating the non-Aryan races to bring down the white man. Subtle if it is, but still a massive hole in the story's credibility. Why would any police force be that stupid or reckless? I can't imagine there were many police forces in the US then or now that were short of candidates who could have seamlessly infiltrated the Klan. Also, once the connection is established, why didn't Flip just take all the phone calls himself? It is established the two don't sound the same, so it would save the unnecessary risk of constant synchronising their stories.
The film is adapted from his book and the real Stallworth's story sounds fascinating and some of the smaller moments in the film, such as his encounters with Grand Wizard David Duke, are word for word accurate. These are amazing and unbelievable things, but not amazing and unbelievable enough for a major motion picture. The main thrust of the movie's tale isn't just overblown and fabricated, it's overblown and fabricated in the standard Hollywood manner: an invented love interest, a bogus race to foil a deadly plot.
Spike Lee's handling of the material is mundanely straightforward. There's not a lot to remind you of what an instinctive and inventive director he can be. In a sequence where Stallworth goes to listen to the Black Panther Stokley Carmichael speak, instead of traditional reaction shots of the crowd Lee uses posed, isolated headshots of audience members against a clear dark background. Individually and sometimes in triptychs, we see them watching on mesmerised. The effect is a little bit Queen's Bohemian Rhapsody video, but it communicates so much more than the traditional reaction shot.
It's a good enough film about an interesting story. There are plenty of laughs and some thought is provoked. In the title role, Denzel's boy has a fair amount of his old man's onscreen charisma while Driver displays a laconic calmness ideally suited for undercover work. All the cast work really well. It will please a crowd, as long as that crowd is the crowd it is designed to please.
I imagine this will receive plaudits for being “timely” and “brave” which it isn't. Possibly it would've been timely before Trump was in the White House, but now its too damn late. The attempts to make explicit digs at the current situation are really jarring, almost insulting. Banging an audience over their heads with the subtext is never wise and it's positively insulting to have the contemporary parallels bellowed into our faces like we're too stupid to grasp them ourselves.
The film may make you angry, or it may make you think. I came out wondering what ever happened to the old melting pot? In the film, a Klan initiation ceremony is intercut with a meeting of black activists where Harry Belafonte delivers a monologue about the lynching of Jesse Washington in 1916. The two gatherings conclude with choruses of “White Power” and “Black Power” respectively. The film is pitched as a conflict between two groups who believe in racial segregation, with the police force in the middle. So here's a dramatic irony for you: a Spike Lee film where the only functional, racially integrated group is a police department.
