BlacKkKlansman

BlacKkKlansman is not a subtle film, but then Spike Lee has never been known for subtlety.  It does embrace some of his better cinematic gifts, however, such as his ability mix anger and humor, as well as use satire to put a giant magnifying glass over some of our harshest and touchiest racial issues of the day.  This is a blistering, powerful and engaging film, even if Lee does hammer a few of his points a bit harder than needed.  Warts and all, it deserves to be seen.

The film tackles the true story of Ron Stallworth, who in the 70s became the first black cop on the Colorado Springs Police Force.  He's played in the film by John David Washington (son of Denzel), and it's a great performance, even if the movie oddly doesn't quite dig as deep into the character as you might expect.  Ron starts off working behind a counter, searching out documents for his superior officers, but he is quickly promoted to being an undercover detective.  He manages to infiltrate a local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan by calling them and pretending to be white.  He tells them he wants revenge after a black man sexually ravaged his sister.  Ron then partners with a white Jewish detective named Flip Zimmerman (Adam Driver), who poses as the fake "Ron Stallworth" when he has to meet the heads of the local chapter face-to-face, and gain their trust.

One would think that the character of Stallworth would all but walk away with the film, but it is Flip who easily becomes the story's most interesting character, and the one whom the film explores the deepest when it comes to his thoughts about what he is doing.  After all, he is the one sticking his neck out, and has to actually infiltrate these private meetings and get togethers that the local Klan members hold.  He is a laid back individual, but being forced to surround himself with racists and bigots makes him often question what he is doing.  He must pretend to be one of them, and claim to hate the religion that he himself is apart of.  It's a fascinating character study, and Driver does a wonderful job of capturing the mixed emotions of his character.  He knows what he will accomplish if he goes through with it, but he is constantly being put in jeopardy.  At one point, he is led into a secret room where he will be forced to take a lie detector test to see if he is actually a Jew, as one of the members of the local chapter is suspicious.  It is only through Stallworth's quick thinking that Zimmerman gets out of it, but the movie does an excellent job of creating tension as he is forced to play this character that goes against everything he stands for.

As for the character of Ron Stallworth, he is not exactly underwritten, but BlacKkKlansman still could have dived just a bit deeper into what he thinks about some of the things he has to do than it does.  His first assignment as an undercover detective is to spy on a rally being held by former Black Panther member Stokely Carmichael, and we never quite get the inner turmoil that should exist created by his sense of duty, and perhaps his personal beliefs that may agree with some of the things that Carmichael talks about.  He also strikes up a romantic subplot with the head of the local college's Black Student Union, Patrice Dumas (Laura Harrier).  She believes that the police are corrupt, and can't be changed, even from the inside.  Ron is afraid to tell her that he is a detective (he tells her he's in construction), and the tension that should be created by their relationship and when he is finally forced to tell her the truth felt a bit underscored to me.

That's not to say the movie ignores the issues completely.  Even after Ron saves her life, she still does not fully trust him.  There could have been a lot more to the relationship, and while what's here is very good, it again just never seems to quite dive deep enough into the matter.  What does work is the film's sobering message.  Lee uses documentary footage to great effect, and manages to create a lot of parallels to this story in the 1970s and current events.  Sometimes, he does kind of force it just a bit.  One scene where a character mentions that it will not be long until someone who shares the beliefs of the Grand Wizard of the KKK, David Duke, is in the White House seems a bit too pointed and on the nose to be effective.  Speaking of Duke, he's portrayed in the film by Topher Grace as a charismatic man who sells the ideas of the Klan with a suit and tie rather than a robe and hood.  It's a fantastic performance, and the scenes where both Zimmerman and Stallworth (who is assigned to protect Duke when he comes to Colorado Springs to give a speech) must interact with him are powerful and filled with tension.

BlacKkKlansman does get its point across, especially near the end when it relies on some terrifying video footage of recent events.  This is what Lee excels at, and he's seldom been better than he is here.  No, this is not another masterpiece like 1989's Do the Right Thing, but it is effective in how it tells its "stranger than fiction" tale of how this black police detective managed to not only infiltrate the KKK over the telephone, but also managed to get all the way to the top.  The movie is great at telling the story, and in creating the place and time it is set.  Its only fault is that a few of the characters are painted with a bit too broad of a brush, as are some of the idea the movie wants to express.  It is highly entertaining, delivering plenty of big laughs to go with its subject matter, while never cheapening the effectiveness of the story.

At the very least, the movie is almost certain to spark conversation and debate, and how many movies this summer season can you honestly say that about?  In our current political and social climate, perhaps Lee's anger is what we need.  Sure, his methods are a bit heavy handed at times, but he is almost certainly captivating here.

0 comments