Peak Spike, peak Denzel, peak biopic.
Spike Lee didn’t need to make another masterpiece: by 1989, Do The Right Thing had established him as an outstanding film maker (even if Cannes awarded that year’s Palme D’Or to Steven Soderbergh‘s Sex Lies & Videotape – and I really need to find a source for Lee’s comments at the time on the race politics behind that decision).
But then he goes and makes an ambitious, sprawling biopic in Malcolm X, with the titular role portrayed with born-to-play-this power by Denzel Washington. For one film to trace Malcolm X’s real-life journey from hood pimp to convict, to outspoken face of The Nation of Islam, to independent civil rights activist, is promising enough.
To be gifted with the mere existence of, much less portrayal by, the young Denzel Washington is remarkable – and that the uncanniness of his portrayal never overshadows its dramatic power is transcendent.
But for all of that to then be told with the sweeping, urgent, riveting storytelling style that Lee brings to the film is downright miraculous. Brisk storytelling, stellar performances, gorgeous art direction, stunning costumes (Ruth Carter!), beautiful cinematography, and, with the exception of a few indulgent moments, watertight editing. It’s a Lawrence of Arabia-scale epic told with the intimacy of a much smaller character study.
Perhaps most impressively: it’s a biopic that not only never feels redundant, it feels crucial – or, at the very least, furiously reactive. Compared to films such as Ray or Ali, Malcolm X has to contend with its subject having a far less flattering or positive public image in broader mainstream culture. I have the luxury of assessing the film on its own terms because it is my introduction to its subject – had I known much about Malcolm X prior, I might have stronger feelings about the film’s shortcomings as a document of an historical figure. As it is, I don’t have the words (or the right, really) to try to articulate the significance of this film. I can only try to express how strongly I feel about it as an achievement.
Further Viewing
The official Making of Malcolm X (via Warner Bros):
As for the historical accuracy of the film: here’s a detailed discussion by media figures at a forum on the Malcolm X film in 1993, originally broadcast on C-Span. The panel focuses on the role of films based on historical figures and their effect on current political thinking and historical thought. In the panel, we hear from Peter Bailey (Columnist at the Richmond Free Press), Pat Dowell (Film Critic at NPR), Jacquie Jones (Editor at the Black Film Review), Christopher Hitchens (Columnist at The Nation), Sanford Ungar (Dean of School of Communication at the American University), and Juan Williams (Correspondent at the Washington Post) (via Muslim Americans on C-Span):
We look at what makes Spike Lee’s far more contained, and more highly regarded, seminal work, Do The Right Thing (1989):