BlacKKKlansman
Focus Features
When I first saw Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing I was greatly affected, not just because it is a cinematic masterpiece of epic proportions, but because it said something broader about the world at large.. Lee handles the subject matter of racial tension in a thoughtful and powerful way in all of his films, but I bring up the 1989 classic because it changed my life for the better. This film, this poignant, harrowing, enlightening film, has changed my life as well. Lee draws constant parallels between the story of an investigation into the KKK and our current tumultuous political times. While there are discrepancies with the truth (the time period was moved back seven years to coincide with blaxploitation and Nixon’s presidential campaign; and the ending was not true) the overall artistic achievement is profound in many senses.
This film was directed and co-written by Spike Lee, based on a 2014 book of the same name, by former police detective Ron Stallworth. Jordan Peele produced this film, and though his style of filmmaking wasn’t as evident as Lee’s, there’s definitely an artful nuance to the production that I think Peele was responsible for. Stallworth is played by John David Washington, who is a new face in cinema, though he did have a bit part in Lee’s 1992 film Malcolm X. Washington proves to be a strong choice, an actor who can weave between the dual roles of undercover detective and affected black man with ease, two personas that feel like oil and water. The entire cast was quite strong, including Adam Driver in possibly his best role yet. Laura Harrier, who is best known for Spiderman: Homecoming, is also fresh to the silver screen, but she excels in her role as proud black activist Patrice, in a way that suggests a tenure in acting. Other notable cast members include Michael Buscemi (Trees Lounge), Ryan Eggold (The Blacklist), and Ashlie Atkinson (The Wolf of Wall Street) who each shine unexpectedly in their respective roles. Topher Grace as David Duke deserves its own separate paragraph, as not only was his performance of the highest caliber, but it also shows a continuing pattern of directors casting him in pivotal and yet supporting parts (American Ultra, Interstellar, and the upcoming Under the Silver Lake).
The strongest aspects of the film come when Lee poses questions to his modern audience about how the world has changed, or if it has changed at all. Duke’s dialogue often makes references to his future political endeavors which eerily line up with Trump’s rhetoric. The film deep dives into the common and utterly horrifying status of the current United States of America, and shows that our future has long been decided by the actions of those in the past. Scenes showing undercover work with the Klan are often punctuated with narratives of the violence inflicted on black bodies. During the film we often hear hate speech tirades and then we are immediately confronted with the realities of said rhetoric. In a world that kowtows to white nationalists and actual Nazis, letting them operate under the banner of free speech and internet secrecy, understanding the link between words and actions is very important. Hearing the President actually say that there are bad people on both sides when a woman lies dead in the street, the victim of hate-fuelled violence by white supremacists, is a reality we have all seen. It’s not just idiocy or ignorance, it’s callousness. Words matter. The words spoken by the Klan matter, the slurs that are inflicted on others matter, and our history matters.
Art is an important commodity in our current political climate. Jordan Peele rocked all of us with Get Out, Boots Riley made a stir with Sorry to Bother You, Ryan Coogler blew us all away with Black Panther, and Issa Rae made us see all the terrible things of the world to laugh at with HBO’s Insecure. Yes, a man in spandex and a woman talking about her sex life can come across as trivial entertainment to many, but actual onscreen representation matters. People seeing people that look, sound, act, and think like them is extremely powerful. Slowly and subversively, art is being made to fight and reveal the realities of our current state. Spike Lee, a director who has always shined a light on a world that often goes unnoticed, or worse, ignored, has truly opened my heart and mind. Why is this how the world is? Why is hate so prevalent? Why do people fight for the gray areas of life, the semantics in speech, and not for the obvious black and white of right versus wrong? I have no answers to the questions that Lee raises in each frame of his new masterpiece. I can only say that I will not stop fighting with the Resistance, and I will not let hate win. That’s what we must do.
