2018 Film Review: BlacKkKlansman (2018)

Directed by: Spike Lee
Written by: Spike Lee, Charlie Wachtel, David Rabinowitz, Kevin Willmot, based upon the book by Ron Stallworth
Starring: John David Washington, Adam Driver, Laura Harrier
IMDb Link

BlacKkKlansman straddles that line between entertaining and sobering, a fierce and direct film that will give you pause as much as it draws laughter. It's also surprisingly broad in appeal for Spike Lee, who seems more focused and restrained with his ire, at least in comparison to his other works (which isn't a negative perspective on those works; the guy is just the opposite of subtle, and your taste in that style may vary), which when combined with the film's meta commentary about representation in film shows a level of maturity that's quite remarkable. The issues brought up here as treated as solemnly as they can be while still being entertaining for how utterly ridiculous and yet real they are.

This film is based on the true story of Ron Stallworth (Washington), first African-American detective of the Colorado Springs Police Department, who, through the surrogacy of fellow detective Flip Zimmerman (Driver), infiltrates and investigates the Ku Klux Klan in the early 1970s, eventually becoming the head of the local branch. It's as true and unbelievable as it sounds.

The film is equal parts amusement and warning. There's a lot of fun to be made with the comedic irony of the situation, but each laugh pulled from David Duke unknowingly talking as he does to a black man can only be done with the awful recognition of their oppression. It's like a desperate glee, laughing through genuine pain as a small way of getting back at systemic oppression, before realising again that the problem with things being the way they are. Lee uses this constantly to draw parallels to today; discussions of the re-branding of racism as a political move and considerations of how racial identity is treated are blatant and working connections that the film relies upon to keep perspective as the film slowly gets more dramatic and comical. It's really fantastic, though applied with butcher knife rather than scalpel (which is still more nuanced than his usual choice of chainsaw). The waters do get muddied in how all this discussion relates back to the police force, especially by one scene late in the film, as the Lee tries to find where along the line Ron falls and ultimately falls in to wishful thinking territory. Maybe that expression of hopeful fantasy was the intention; the film is a dream, and by the end it snaps back to reality.

Ron is stoic and ambitious, taking every racial scrutiny on the chin as he crusades for what's right, and the conversations he has help to shape his perspective and those he converses with, challenged in his ideas . There's something to be gotten out of every interaction, but the change and growth of Flip as a character over the course of the film, particularly his realisations about why people care and find existential basis in their racial and cultural identities as it relates to Ron's experience is the most well fleshed out. That said, the contrast between the discussion Ron has with Flip and the discussions he has with black rights advocate Patrice Dumas (Harrier) is downright fascinating.

Of course, this works as much off of the actors' performances as is does Lee's enthralling directing. Washington's muted expression is strange at first, but fits excellently once the movie shows what it's getting at; I'm reminded of Laurence Fishburne in Deep Cover, that same blankness as an attempt to avoid scrutiny for reacting to racial hatred belying the fire within him. Driver keeps showing that he's one of the best actors working today, always nuanced in his emotional expression even when he isn't speaking, and a perfect complement to Washington. The strongest touch is when Flip is accosted for having Jewish heritage; Driver has to stare down such accusation and the hateful connotations of those who make them for the first time, and his response is a barely restrained version of the expression that now comes to Ron so easily, and it seems as if you could understand both characters so intimately for just a moment. Harrier likewise works so well in relation to Washington; the conversations between Ron and Patrice feel like real and challenging conversations between people, both appropriate for their time and echoing ideas from out own. Everyone brings great work here.

The Short Version: BlacKkKlansman is one of the best films of the year thus far, a stylish and savage piece that entertains and moves in equivalent measures. See it.

Rating: 8.5/10

Published August 22nd, 2018