Let’s talk Spike Lee joints.
Spike Lee’s certainly had a diverse and undulating career
over the past three-odd decades—say what you want about him, but he’s always
been pretty frank about whatever’s on his mind at any given time. For me, he’s
had both hits and misses—from the classic Do The Right Thing, to the on the
nose but in a compelling way Chi-Raq, to the on the nose but in an honestly
sort of haphazard way Bamboozled, to the unnecessary Oldboy remake. Still, with
most of his filmography there’s at least something to talk about. And I freely
admit that sometimes his subject matter may not fully click with me with myself
not being American, much less African-American. That being said, there’s very
little that’s not going to fully click with everyone with his latest film
BlacKkKlansman.
It’s based on the real-life story of how black police
officer Ron Stallworth Colorado paired up with a white (here specified as Jewish)
cop to set up a persona to infiltrate the local chapter of the Klan. Given a
story like that I’d be surprised Lee didn’t do something like this sooner, but
as the film goes on you start to realize why he may have decided it’s
particularly relevant now. He does take some liberties with the real
account—for one, he moves it to earlier in the seventies to toss in some
references to classic Blaxploitation—but it’s not hugely relevant as far as
most audiences are going to be concerned. The seventies look of afros, long
hair, bad mustaches, wood panels and muscle cars gets the job done just fine at
setting the tone of things.
Stallworth here is played by John David Washington, and his
initially reluctant buddy cop is Adam Driver, here not also co-starring with
Adam Driver’s pectoral muscles. You’d think the former would be overshadowed by
the much more recognizable latter, but truthfully, both performances, while
perfectly fine, aren’t quite as memorable for me as most of the side-cast. The
Klansmen (and one women) are spot on in demented white supremacism and general
odiousness that sadly feels all too real, and Topher Grace as real-life Klan
leader David Duke just nails the condescending, near-sociopathic attitudes such
a man remotely near any authority would carry.
Laura Harrier likewise plays Patrice, a black power advocate,
as Stallworth’s law-abiding counterpart and, well, other, and definitely comes
off as a more energetic character. Maybe that’s the idea, to highlight her
authority-flouting and fighting-the-man nature, and to some degree it works.
Washington certainly gets his highlights, especially near the end for one
moment that’ll get the audience in the theater clapping.
Speaking of the end, this is where Lee really, really
hammers in what the message of the film—specifically, how it connects to the
politics of the now—happens to be. This may turn off some people, but
considering certain recent events in the United States and elsewhere, and the
resurgence of men like Duke into the public limelight, it’s also more than a
little understandable. Maybe it’ll date the film in future decades, but neither
does it really detract from the theme of blind hatred tripping up on its own
ignorance. Before this, some will note snippets of dialogue that may come off
as on-the-nose references to contemporary politics…until you realize those were
more or less actual mantras of Klan groups in decades past.
Overall, this is definitely on form for Lee, and I say give
it a watch. The seventies aesthetic is nailed, the performances are all
enjoyable, and, as always with a Spike Lee joint, there’s going to be lots to
talk about. Be it those who are going to latch onto the historical and
political parallels for African-Americans and other US minorities, and those who’d
want more of Kylo Ren integrating his foot into some racist ass.
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