BlacKkKlansman - Black Lives Matter

Black Lives Matter. A simple and important phrase misinterpreted and slandered by too many who don't understand or refuse to understand the undeniable truth and beauty of the statement. Everyone understands the statement, but those who want to ruin it try to imply the statement is saying "Only black lives matter." The fact of the matter is, this is not the case. Many people can hear the statement at face value but choose not to, implying it's a racist statement, and attempt a counter saying "Well, all lives matter, not JUST black ones!" Black Lives Matter is not a phrase of superiority. It is not even implying superiority. Black Lives Matter is not trying to devalue another. All it is doing is stating that just because someone is black, that is not a reason to take their lives or say they deserve less of a chance to live. The story of Black Lives Matter is the story as old as slavery in the colonial United States, and the story is a bloody, gruesome tragedy filled with some of the most atrocious injustice in the Earth's history. This story morphed from slavery in chains to economic slavery and mental colonization. From stealing millions of people from their homes to forcing them to live in homes fit for no one to live to then continually oppressing their descendants by saying they don't deserve to live and that the only good ones are athletes or entertainers. The story of slavery and oppression of black people in the United States of America continues to this day and is an ever changing narrative that gets worse and worse continually. The antagonists of this story have evolved as the narrative has divulged from slave masters versus slaves, to Northerners versus Southerners and eventually, the Ku Klux Klan versus anyone who wasn't considered the "master" race. This is but a brief dive into the history of slavery in the United States of America. If you want to read more, there are hundreds of resources you can refer to, including many chapters of Howard Zinn's A People's History of the United States. If you want more reading material on this very long topic, there are hundreds of resources, I just wanted to give a brief dive into this topic to get you to give some background information I find necessary to today's film. So, if you didn't see the film I'm talking about today or aren't ready to understand what the hell is about to go down, then I think that means you need to see Spike Lee's BlacKkKlansman. A fictionalized take on the story of Ron Stallworth, Colorado Spring's first black police officer. Stallworth would make an incredible true story happen when in 1979, he saw a classified ad for the Colorado Springs chapter of the Klan, phoned them in, and using an undercover white officer, was able to successfully infiltrate the KKK. Through this, Stallworth was able to find the identities of many Klan members, a few who worked for the US Air Force at NORAD who would later be reassigned to isolated posts away from US citizens. Spike Lee thought it was a joke when producer Jordan Peele approached him with the six word pitch for the film: "Black man infiltrates Ku Klux Klan." But what Lee soon discovered was a very true story that he then adapted to film. Coming out last year, BlacKkKlansman was heralded as a return to form for Lee and another landmark film in one of the most iconic American filmmaker's filmography. A story just as relevant today as it was 40 years ago, the movie leaves audiences with a lot to think on. So, what do I think about this movie? Well, it being on my blog, I hope it is clear: I love this movie. If you are to walk into this movie, there are a few things you should expect. Notably, captivating performances including John David Washington as Stallworth and Adam Driver as Flip Zimmerman. You should expect to be left in a state of absolute tension in scenes with the Klan. You should expect to see some brilliant cinematography and shots that will live with you long after you've seen the movie. You should expect to see a movie that analyzes the word brotherhood and makes the horrors of misinterpreting what the word can mean. Most importantly of all however, you should expect to see a movie that is going to force you to view the United States under a supreme microscope that awakens you to the true horrors of racism that still continue today. (Before we get started, this is a MASSIVE spoiler warning. I will be talking in-depth about the entire movie, in particular its last 10 minutes. If you have not seen the film, then please bookmark this review and read it when you have. Because this is a movie that deserves to be seen.)

Now, how about the things that make BlacKkKlansman an actual movie, huh? Well, let's start by talking about our two leading men: John David Washington and Adam Driver. Washington clearly takes a lot of lessons from his father, because he just disappears into this role magnificently. Washington gets a lot of really fantastic material to work with from Lee's screenplay. Washington is living in every scene of the film he is in and is playing the role as truthfully as I think anyone could. My personal favorite scene of his is one he doesn't even have much dialogue in. Early on in the film he goes to a meeting organized by the Black Panthers and is hearing Kwame Ture speak after being unjustly sent on an undercover mission to see if the Black Panthers should be considered dangerous. When hearing the words of Ture, he really gets a chance to act purely off of his face as he hears about how the black man must rise up and fight against the white oppressors. You get to really see how pulled in he is from Ture's speech, hanging off of every word like the entire rest of the room. And then when he is compelled to speak, it's a triumphant moment that lives throughout the entire rest of the movie. Speaking out against authority who tries and fails to contain him and fighting against some of the same evils within his own precinct. Washington really goes on a beautiful journey starting off with his initial acceptance of being a police officer into leaving at the end of the film due to being told that the investigation is going under wraps. Another brilliant scene he acts in is when he follows Flip to a Klan owned gun range and sees their targets: racist silhouettes of black men sporting afros made out of cast iron. As he looks at the bullet holes, Ron realizes how deep he is in the investigation now and just how much danger he and all the people around him are in. A good way to measure the brilliance of a performance is in how much an actor stays committed to a scene despite not having any words, and Washington stays brilliantly in the scenes, lending himself and his captivating performance to every appearance of Stallworth in the film. He is also bolstered by the second "Stallworth Brother"; Adam Driver's Flip Zimmerman. In real life, we still don't know the officer that went undercover to assist Stallworth in the real investigation, so, no, Zimmerman is not a "real" character in the sense of the word. Driver had a big job to handle with this movie, mainly in that he has to put on two acts: as Flip himself, and then as the fake Ron Stallworth. And for both, he is brilliantly fascinating to watch. Flip as a police officer is a very simple character on paper, just the officer who has to go undercover. But once he starts going to Klan meetings, he becomes a completely different person. Flip is Jewish, a point brushed aside early on when he initially begins his assignment, but soon becomes a major development in his story. Once the membership card for official Klan membership arrives, Flip looks at it and delivers a fantastically written monologue about identity and the meaning and power of the history in someone's blood, and it comes naturally and takes some already incredible words and elevates them to an entirely different level. These two had a monumental task they had to perform correctly, and I am happy to say these two work amazingly together.

Something that will surprise viewers going into the movie is how surprisingly funny it is. Yes, it was intended to be funny. Lines in this movie are hilariously and were absolutely written to be this way. Standout comedy moments in the film are basically all of Ron's phone calls with the Klan, especially when he starts talking to the head of the Klan himself, David Duke. But don't let that fool you. The film can be funny and has some very funny scenes, but in no way is this a comedy film. Tone is something I find too many filmmakers get set on and don't ever move away from. Sometimes, it's more honest to have a funny moment in a drama film. In order to have emotional highs, you need emotional lows and vice versa. So, the film will change tones depending on what group of people we're seeing on the screen at that time. For example, whenever we are in the precinct with the police, dialogue is more comfortable, jokes are thrown a lot faster, and more than anything, we get a chance to breath. When Ron is with the Black Student Union members, it starts to feel a lot more serious with it becomes a lot more serious, be it from being a lot more inspirational in instances like Kwame Ture's speech, or due to dealing with the imminent threat of a Klan attack during a peaceful protest. And then in scenes with the Klan, the tension becomes stronger than ever as the full weight of the situation becomes clear. I will say that some of the members of the Klan might come as more cartoonish than realistic, I find this is a choice that works and ends up benefitting the film's theme on the pure stupidity of racism. The tension and danger is high during these scenes and provides an interesting tone when all three of these world's collide at the very end of the movie with the murder attempt against Patrice, Ron's love interest played by Laura Harrier who is an outspoken member of the Black Student Union. The film's tones always work perfectly because it works with the excellent themes of the movie and is really effective in keeping audiences attentive during segments of the film that might feel slower for some viewers.

I want to dive into something I mentioned earlier, the analysis of the word brotherhood. Early on in the film, a police officer sexually assaults Patrice and later continually harasses Ron saying he should learn more respect. And when it is brought up to other officers, they just simply say nothing is done about it because they're a family and families stick together. Then when Flip goes to his second Klan meeting and almost has his cover blown, the leader of the Springs' chapter, Walter, tells another member to lay off of Flip because he's going to be their "new brother." This misinterpretation of the word brotherhood is laced in the film throughout and it enhances the film massively. In reality, matters that happen in real police precincts get brushed under the couch for these very same reasons. "We're brothers", "we're a family", "we gotta stick together", things like that. And when you hear members of Klan, the antagonists, the evil organization saying the exact same things, it turns a light on for police asking if the right thing is really being done.  Then it gets really fascinating when the film ends with the Chief of Police telling Ron to destroy all the evidence and cease the operation because there is no plausible threat anymore. So then when the watchful eye of the protector gives up and says the job is done, someone is not being held accountable for evil. Someone is giving up and in a way saying "we're family." Of course, the movie does not say this directly, but it very much is implied. HOWEVER, and this is the first time I will write about something I do disagree with, I want to talk about one bit of the ending. After the Klan is sent back into the shadows and the day is essentially saved, Ron and Patrice have an encounter with the same officer who assaulted her earlier in the film, performing a simple mic job to get him arrested and fired from the precinct. I think the film has a lot of good will and tells a very important story, but this is a moment that never occurred and I think does hinder the film. When officers assault and murder people, other officers don't tend to work together to get the officers fired, but instead tend to band together. "He's a good man", "he made a mistake, but everyone does". I am afraid that this portion of the ending is going to paint a false narrative that viewers might buy into too much in the hopes of just getting the audience out of the theater feeling happier, which really doesn't sit right with me given the feeling audiences leave the movie with.

BlacKkKlansman is a movie set in the 1970s of Colorado Springs, but its story is still relevant in this world. One of my favorite sequences in the entire film is when we see the Klan gathering for a viewing of the film Birth of a Nation, while members of the Black Student Union gather to listen to Jerome Turner (played by Harry Belafonte) to tell the story of the lynching of Jesse Washington, in a sequence known as the Tale of Two Powers. As the BSU chants "Black Power!" as a rallying cry speaking out against oppression and the defiance of hatred, the Klan chants"White Power!" One, a group chanting about how the system must be broken in order to let all people prosper, the other chanting in a failed attempt to say the system is broken and must be purged of all those who don't fit their perfect little system. When Belafonte finishes his speech, he and other students of the BSU hold up pictures of Jesse Washington's mangled body as they stare silently at the camera. It is this haunting shot and the ending of the film that force viewers to analyze their place in the country and be forced to ask if enough is being done, or if you are sitting aside and not doing anything and say it's because you are a family. The film ends on a terrifying note as footage plays of the Klan's infamous Unite the Right rally, President Donald Trump defending the Klan's racist rally saying they weren't all bad people, and the shocking video captured of the car attack at the Unite the Right counter-protest in Charlottesville on August 12th, 2017. Crosses are still being burned. David Duke still ran for the US Senate in 2016. Black men and women are still being murdered in the streets as lynchings still occur in the United States to this day. BlacKkKlansman's brilliantly haunting ending five minutes will leave you silent, it will leave you angry, it will leave you asking yourself if you are doing enough to end this horrible system that is continuing to get people killed to this very day. BlacKkKlansman's ending has been said by many before and will be said by many after to put the United States under a microscope as the injustices of American slavery still continue to this very day and still hang over this country like a white hood.

BlacKkKlansman is a film I love because it forced me to ask questions about myself and my own political and social involvement that I was too afraid to ask beforehand. It forced me to question and get angry about things I used to say I could do nothing about. It is a story about how a poisonous history can still prosper if a blind eye is turned from the people in power. It is a story about how American history has betrayed so many people and so many more will continue to suffer and die from an evil system that has brought so much pain to so many. And then within that very same film we get captivating performances, deep themes and beautiful cinematography that inspire me, and will inspire many more after me. I often ponder if it is better to have a film that means something but is only an okay film or to have a film with little themes but left me feeling satisfied with my viewing experience. That is a question that completely left my mind when watching BlacKkKlansman. It is a question that doesn't matter because of how much time was put into making sure the right story was told the right way and released during the right time. I hate to use such a writing cliché to end this review, but I honestly cannot end my review any better than saying this simple truth: BlacKkKlansman is a movie that everyone needs to see.