BlacKkKlansman (Review)

About a fortnight ago I claimed that films like Mission Impossible: Fallout and Ocean’s 8 are simply products for consumption. Well, BlacKkKlansman is the antithesis in this style of filmmaking. Each of these films has the opportunity to say something about the world today but only Klansman takes the opportunity. This is what happens when a producer hires a director with a connection to the central conflict that drives a film. Gary Ross has probably never been a criminal but he makes a movie about them. The characters in Ocean’s 8 seem to steal and con because they want the money. Anyone who watches enough news will know that socio-economic factors play a larger part. Then Christopher McQuarrie for MI6. What connection does he have to the war on terror except for the fact that he was hired by Tom Cruise to direct the film? Maybe he’s a fan of latex masks.

Spike Lee, on the other hand, is angry and he’s not hiding it. He brings a refined and thoughtful take on racism in America despite this anger. This is something he lives with, he thinks about it every day. His anger is nuanced but is still with some minor flaws but they seem to stem more from the writing than his personal views.

Even though it’s set in the 1970s, this story is still relevant today. Until the 1970s in Colorado Springs, there hadn’t been a black police officer until Ron Stallworth (John David Washington) joined the force. After a while, he joins the intelligence division. Motivated by race-related instances in the force he decides to call the Klan through the ad they put in the paper. He wants to infiltrate the organisation but he’s obviously black. So Flip Zimmerman (Adam Driver) interacts with the organisation in person while the real Stallworth controls all correspondence.

Lee takes a risk for the first ⅔ of the film as he allows both sides to vocalise their views. The KKK may seem hateful to you or I but to an ally, they would believe their views are being expressed fairly. The members of the KKK would believe their reality (which would come of as twisted to us) is being represented and vocalised here. Except if you know one thing about history it’s that it’s written by the winners. The views of a black student organisation* are too expressed here, mainly through Patrice Dumas (Laura Harrier). I’m sure a member or ally of the KKK would have the opposite thoughts of us. That bad guys are the African Americans. The divide is even highlighted in a montage that shows the contrast between both sides. The KKK host a ceremony to induct new members while the student organisation listen to an old man recount his experience of witnessing a black man being publicly tortured. o

*I couldn’t find the full name of the union

It’s obvious where Lee’s bias lies but he uses Ron Stallworth as a voice of reason for the student movement so they don’t become the enemy by falling into the edges of politics more commonly known as extremism. Patrice believes all cops are pigs, even black ones but Ron, whom Patrice doesn’t know is a cop, tries to refute that black officers can make a difference. We first meet members of the student union at a talk where prominent black rights activist, Kwame Ture is the main speaker. His speech does lean a little on the extremism but Lee doesn’t condemn to it. Rather he refines it with points about not all police officers being pigs through Stallworth’s character. With this mindset, BlacKkKlansman doesn’t manage to reach levels of films that discuss their respective topics in great detail (I Am Not Your Negro). I didn’t dislike this aspect of the film, I was yearning for more by the end.

John David Washington, son of regular Lee collaborator Denzel Washington, confidently plays the titular character. It’s certainly refreshing to see a cocky black man instead of a cocky white man in a mainstream movie and see their transformation into someone more grounded. After starting at the police department Stallworth soon realises he’s going to have to fight the same fights in the station as he does on the streets. To see a black actor in such a role portrayed this way will mean a lot to some people. He isn’t a man who is struggling to survive but someone who is in control of their actions, he is leading the investigation instead of it being handed over to someone else. He isn’t trying to make ends meet. He has a job and he’s good at it. The film’s cathartic moment, however, isn’t Stallworth overcoming or facing an inherent personality flaw but rather it takes place in the final call between Stallworth and David Duke, leader of the KKK. There’s isn’t a defining moment of character like the ending of Do the Right Thing.

Stallworth’s partner, Flip Zimmerman, is played by the versatile Adam Driver. He embodies the Ron Stallworth persona for face to face meetings with the Klan. To gain their trust he spurts out hate speech like they do but to us, it seems like he’s making a thing of it so that the Klan members don’t have any doubt as to his true intentions. Nonetheless, he’s quite convincing. He seems to channel his anger into what he says to make t. It’s revealed that he’s actually Jewish but wasn’t brought up with a traditional Jewish upbringing. This is only addressed a couple of times and is largely forgotten by the climax as it has little to do with the story. The Jewish and African-Americans both are reviled by the Klan but it never feels like not really put under the same light. If they wanted to bring attention to this facet of Zimmerman’s backstory they should’ve given it the respect and attention it deserves.

Throughout Spike Lee’s career, he’s made use of an energetic camera. In BlacKkKlansman his camera is used in a mostly conventional sense, bar the occasional dutch tilt or split screen. This doesn’t mean Lee doesn’t lose an energy to filmmaking that only he does. By ramping up the film’s energy using editing and the odd camera flair it would appear that Lee wants to remain the background a bit more. He doesn’t want the audience to have himself on his mind all the time. The story is then able to tell itself and when Lee does use a more flamboyant camera move or edit it’s generally to call attention to itself. Never has been a phone hanging up twice felt so satisfying. Despite being a serious topic Lee still manages to find the humour in the middle of it all. This could be the black waiter at the KKK function or the on the nose Trump references. Also, the fat, ignorant, annoying guy from I, Tonya is here playing another fat, ignorant, annoying guy.

BlacKkKLansman comes from a team of people behind it with something to say. Not a group of people hired for the roll to make sure the movie makes money. And, while the film’s discussion is interesting and is sure to get the ball rolling it often has a quick glimpse of the things that could help it bring more to the table. A great film never does one great thing. It needs to do two or more and BlacKkKlansman only scratches the surface of the second thing. Regardless of the film is a fine example of business meeting art. Lee is certainly back to form but he plays it safe in doing so.

What do you think of this film?

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Director: Spike Lee

Writers: Charlie Wachtel, David Rabinowitz, Kevin Willmott, and Spike Lee

Starring: John David Washington, Adam Driver, Laura Harrier, Steve Buscemi's brother and Topher Grace Cinematography: Chayse Irvin

Editor: Barry Alexander Brown

Score: Terence Blanchard