Taking a fascinating true-crime story and thrusting it into the current racial debate engulfing America, BlacKkKlansman features director Spike Lee at his most potent and controversial, while introducing John David Washington as a star on the rise.
For Spike Lee, everything is political. In a state of righteous anger has the Brooklyn filmmaker remained since breaking through with Do the Right Thing thirty years ago, and there is no doubt that the last three years of the Trump presidency especially has kept that fire burning hot-read. It is a relief, then, to find that anger and indignation has funnelled itself not only into a potent and relevant film, but an immensely entertaining one as well.
BlacKkKlansman could very well be seen from afar as a comedy sketch of the Dave Chappelle variety. But it is based on a very real criminal case from 1979, in which African-American police detective Ron Stallworth (John David Washington), along with fellow detective Flip Zimmerman (Adam Driver) infiltrated the Colorado chapter of the Ku Klux Klan. In typical Spike Lee fashion, there is much more added to this fascinating story, which on its own is one of the best undercover cop movies seen since The Departed. With Stallworth as its main focus, Lee presents a story of duality: within its main characters, within the institutions presented on screen, and (most importantly) within America itself both in 1979 and present day.
As Stallworth, Washington (the son of Oscar winner and frequent Lee collaborator Denzel Washington), plays the part of a committed police detective and confident black man with equal parts brashness and uncertainty. Singing up to become the first black police officer in Colorado, as well as infiltrating the Ku-Klux-Klan, exhibited an incredible amount of courage that Washington projects with a cocky swagger. Perhaps more courageous is battling that struggle within, as Stallworth continuously rectifies his desire to be a police officer with that of a young black man who finds sense in the revolution movement within his community. Washington excels in portraying all these facets with equal amounts comedy and cool. It is an impressive breakthrough performance, and one that is poised to make him a star.
Great too is Adam Driver as Flip, the undercover cop who must rub shoulders with the lowest of deplorable, filled with a hate and bigotry unparalleled. Unlike Stallworth, Flip doesn’t embrace his ethnicity (Jewish) with the same intensity, making his journey one of searching and transition. Driver portrays this inner conflict with charming, brooding ease in what is one of the talented thesps best turns yet.
Lee expertly links the events in this film to modern times, where the rise of nationalist voices has been given a bigger spotlight thanks to the failings of America’s leaders, and their inability to authoritatively decry the rise of a hatred once forced to the edges of a bygone era. In predictable fashion Lee takes some big swings regarding his political commentary, yet his intensions are right on the money. Perhaps more interesting is Lee’s presentation of cinema as a powerful tool in which to propagandise and instil certain beliefs to the ignorant and uninitiated. Films such as Gone with the Wind and Birth of a Nation are especially given the critical treatment by Lee. Meanwhile blaxploitation classics starring the likes of Pam Grier also fall under Lee’s scowl like gaze.
BlacKkKlansman also proves that cinema is an important tool to educate and eradicate stereotype. Stallworth’s remarkable true-life story, combined with Lee’s take-no-quarter approach, certainly achieves just that.
