In 1972, Ron Stallworth, the first African American undercover
detective in the Colorado Springs Police Department, infiltrated the local
chapter of the Ku Klux Klan with a phone call. As a new member, he sent a
fellow white (and Jewish) detective to take his place in the face-to-face
meetings. It’s a tale that is stranger than fiction, and one that could easily
be a barrel of laughs and a comedy of dominos. But to treat the material that
way would be a travesty, as director Spike Lee finds a way to make this
unbelievable true story one of the most profound cinematic statements America
has ever seen.
Stallworth (John David Washington, son of Denzel), overcomes
racial prejudice at his own police precinct to become an undercover officer,
and manages to become a card-carrying member of the local KKK. To gather more
intelligence, Stallworth enlists the help of fellow detective Flip Zimmerman
(Adam Driver), who attends the face-to-face meetings. The two draw closer to
what this local chapter is up to while hiding their identities, and eventually
wind up meeting clan leader David Duke (Topher Grace).
BLACKKKLANSMAN is a film that is a web of undercover work,
with Stallworth pulling the strings from behind the scenes, and Flip pretending
he’s Stallworth as he meets, greets, and plots with the group of racist yahoos
who meet in living rooms…who come across as clowns but still with the potential
for causing some serious damage. On the surface it’s a police procedural, and
Lee checks off the boxes of good cops doing their jobs nicely.
Beefing things up in the meantime is Stallworth’s budding
relationship with Patrice (Laura Harrier), who is the president of a black
student union who happens to despise the police, and Flip avoiding the
suspicions of a clan member (Felix Kendrickson) who is also the loose cannon of
the group. There’s a lot of dodging and cat-and-mousing going on, and Lee plays
the film like an intricate chess match.
Lee keeps his two main characters of Stallworth and Flip at
arm’s reach in the early goings. Their backgrounds and motivations are never
explored, and time is instead spent on how this undercover work is affecting
the unlikely duo. Stallworth questions if this is just another job or a
personal crusade, while Flip, who was never proud of his Jewish heritage,
questions his own faith when he is forced to praise the Holocaust in front of
his KKK colleagues. The characters come off as cold to us, but what they go
through is the connecting thread for the audience.
Lee, never one to hold back, drops us right in the middle of
the clan meetings and lets the ugliness of racism speak for itself. From the
smugness of David Duke to the casual hate spewed by the chapter president’s
housewife (Ashlie Atkinson). There’s some serious material to work with here,
and it keeps the film from going into comedic territory. But what really makes
BLACKKKLANSMAN soar is the direct line Lee draws from the film’s events in 1972
to today, and also reaches back as far as the Civil War while taking Hollywood
to task as well. Throughout the film there are reminders of just how far
America has not come in the area of
civil rights, and by film’s end no one will see things the same again. It’s not
preaching as much as it is revealing.
Acting is superb. John David Washington and Adam Driver make
a tremendous team, and one wishes to see more of them together. Laura Harrier
is a delight, and Topher Grace shows the ability to play a great villain. Corey
Hawkins drops in as a civil rights leader and lights up the screen, and Alec
Baldwin provides some real chills as a white racial superiority. The show is
stolen by Harry Belafonte, who is at the center of an outstandingly edited
sequence which recounts the story of a murdered black boy.
The finale is a thriller which includes a race to keep their
identities a secret while trying to prevent a bombing, and while the outcome
isn’t quite clear (the result of the final chase is a little muddy), Lee puts a
massive exclamation point in the closing minutes to make BLACKKKLANSMAN a
powerful statement on race in America. Lee has done this before in his previous
films, but not ever like this…and dead silence from audience’s as the credits
roll is guaranteed. Lee has delivered a masterpiece; one that thrills, tells
the truth, and allows no one to walk away unchanged.
BOTTOM LINE: See it
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