Whaddaya know? Spike Lee is relevant again. And I mean really relevant, best picture relevant, not just “Chi-raq relevant.” BlacKkKlansman not only has a great story to tell about infiltrating the “organization,” it also turned the kitchen light on our present political idiocy and watched all the cockroaches scurry for cover. Bah, that metaphor isn’t correct; the cockroaches are hardly scurrying for cover; they’re basking in the glow of the flashlight while tweeting “Witch Hunt!” and promoting, “truth isn’t truth.”
In the early 1970s, the all-white Colorado Springs police force decided to integrate. There were going to be growing pains; if there are racist cops in 2018, imagine staffs entirely comprised of white men in the lily-white American towns forty years ago. Somewhere between guinea pig and Jackie Robinson is Ron Stallworth (John David Washington). Initially assigned to the records room, Ron has to swallow directed and subconscious racism with constant file requests for “toads,” a derogatory term for black men. In the grand scheme of things, Stallworth was no Jackie Robinson, but that didn’t make his job any easier.
Asking for a transfer, Stallworth is refused until an undercover opportunity arrives that calls for a person of color – a rally for Kwame Ture (née Stokely Carmichael). The police are keen to know what goes on at a Black Panther rally, but couldn’t get a man inside until now. This is a part where I’m glad Spike Lee was the director, because he’s not going sugar coat violent undertones. Kwame does indeed warn the crowd to arm themselves for the revolution to come. Is it a call for revolution or just big talk? And is there part of us that sees Stallworth as a sell out? He’s clearly reluctant to share his cop status with new girlfriend, student activist Patrice Dumas (Laura Harrier). One way or another, it’s fair to say he’s doing an adequate job on the force and is soon promoted to full-time detective.
And this is where the film turns from a civil rights bio into the stuff you can’t wait to talk about: finding an ad for a local Ku Klux Klan chapter, Ron gets on the phone and, with a litany of white supremacist speak, manages to convince the man at the other end that he wants to join the “organization.” Yes, he used his real name for the phone call. Big mistake. And yes, there is no such thing as a BlacKkKlansman, so fellow detective Flip Zimmerman (Adam Driver) has to pose as the face of Ron Stallworth. This leads to priceless commentary like, “With the right white man, we can do anything.” It also leads to no shortage of peril. The Klan is full of armed men with a limited sense of humor and a sickening indulgence of perceived injustice.
BlacKkKlansman has nearly the right amount of everything. Writer/director Spike Lee didn’t skimp on danger or humor or character development (we even get a bedroom scene from a married white supremacist couple) or political commentary. Ok, maybe he went a tad over the top with an extended scene contrasting the KKK chanting “White Power” to a screening of the racist classic Birth of a Nation juxtaposed with a black group concluding a true horror story about lynching by chanting “Black Power.” Spike’s message couldn’t be clearer: White Power is about domination and oppression, Black Power is about equality and survival. On this point, I see eye to eye with Mr. Lee.
The film bookends with what might seem like disconnected and atopical documentary-style political message: the beginning of the film morphs from Gone with the Wind to a “scientific” diatribe about the superiority of the white race. The movie ends with scenes from the white supremacist rally in Charlottesville in 2017. There are subtle and not-so-subtle politics peppered throughout BlacKkKlansman. Spike Lee deftly parallels 1970s Klan battles with the sentiment that gave Donald Trump a horrifying amount of power. My favorite was the David Duke (Topher Grace) led Klan chant of “America first!” Yes, Trump fans, you deserve that, and more.
Through some shifty dialogue in which Lee calls his own hero naïve, BlacKkKlansman gets to the meat of his extended allegory – white supremacy is political. We see it every day. President Trump is a textbook racist and most conservatives won’t even call him out on it. Suppose, just suppose, the United States “accidentally” elected the Grand Wizard of the KKK as President. What would you expect to see, I mean other than a political surge from Big Linen? Here’s what I would expect to see: I’d expect a near unprecedented scapegoating of foreigners and minorities. I’d expect the administration to be replete with cronies and nepotism. I’d expect every White House photo op to reek of old white man stank. I’d expect a downplaying of any issue that even hints at empowerment among have-nots: i.e. Climate Change, health care, economic inequality, gun violence, etc. Meanwhile, I’d expect said administration to highlight racially tinged issues regardless of significance, always favoring the side of oppression. These would be issues like voter fraud, fining NFL players that kneel during the anthem, or the desire to build a huge wall between the country and its non-white neighbor. I’d expect the pardoning of racists and the excusing of racist behavior. I’d expect hate to be the #1 emotion felt by every American when it comes to politics. BlacKkKlansman is a genuine biography from Colorado the 1970s, and yet it’s lamentably as fresh as this morning’s news.
For years, I’ve thought of Spike Lee as the boy who cried “WOLF!” I saw him as somebody creating racial disharmony where none need exist. Hmmmm … so it turns out his alarmist attitude was based in genuine fact. Huh. Do I owe him an apology now? God, I hope not; he’s kind of insufferable. This timely commentary is reflective and intuitive and entertaining; I’m not sure what else one needs in a film … assuming you’re not a Klansman, that is. I will be much put off if the Academy gives it the same treatment it gave Do the Right Thing thirty years ago.
♪He dialed the phone not sure what to say
Claimed he wanted no more gray
And those jerks they called back
Jerks they called back,
No way-ay!
Yeah, he called the Klan to enter their fray
Left a message there to play
And those crackers called back
Crackers called back
Crackers called back
No Way!
The KKK hired a black man today
They said, “he’s ok”
“Ok by me”
The KKK hired a black man today
They said, “he’s ok”
And David Duke’s on his way♫
Rated R, 135 Minutes
Director: Spike Lee
Writer: Charlie Wachtel & David Rabinowitz and Kevin Willmott & Spike Lee
Genre: The history that mocks your present
Type of being most likely to enjoy this film: Social justice warriors
Type of being least likely to enjoy this film: Klansmen
♪ Parody Inspired by “The KKK Took My Baby Away”
