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MALCOLM X
Directed by Spike Lee
"White’s can help us, but they can’t join us. There can be no black-white unity until there is first some black unity. We cannot think of uniting with others until we have first learned to unite amongst ourselves. We cannot think of being acceptable to others until we have first proven acceptable to ourselves."
Malcolm X (Denzel Washington) speaks these words before he takes his pilgrimage to Mecca. To me, this pilgrimage is the most powerful sequence in the film. Malcolm sees people of all races united. No hate. No discrimination. Just love and unity. He comes back to the United States proclaiming that all people - black, yellow, red, and white - are all his brothers.
The opening credits have a voice-over of one of Malcolm’s hate-charged, "the white man is the devil" speeches over a visualization of an American flag burning until it forms an X. This effectively introduces us to the burning hate that Malcolm X had, and how it, in effect, burned up America and left no room for unity and tolerance.
The film chronicles Malcolm’s life, dividing it up into essentially three periods. It starts off his younger years, showing his family, his father’s murder that was declared a suicide (It’s apparently possible to hit yourself on the back of the head with a hammer and lay yourself across train tracks.), and Malcolm’s life of crime, which eventually leads him to jail. In prison he converts to the Nation of Islam. Upon being released, he quickly becomes the spokesman, often contradicting himself. He would proclaim that he was not a racist, but that the white man was the devil. In the film’s final act, it’s most powerful act, Malcolm comes to his final realization through his pilgrimage to Mecca and disagreements with the Nation of Islam.
Spike Lee does an exquisite job directing this film. Helped along by Denzel Washington’s fantastic performance, Lee does a great job bringing Malcolm X to life. I love Lee’s visual flair and his keen eye for composition. There is a shot where Malcolm and a young woman walk along the beach. When the shot begins, the couple is in the left-hand corner of the frame. Lee’s camera sweeps past them, and by the time the shot is over, they end up in the right-hand corner. I know my words cannot do justice to it, but it is one of the most gorgeously composed shots I have seen in a long time.
In his review of the film, Roger Ebert mentions that Spike Lee isn’t interested in congratulating the black audience and condemning the white ones. Just look at the above quote. Spike uses Malcolm’s story to show that the Afro-American community, the term Mr. X would have used, needs unity before they can hope to be acceptable to others, and we all have work to do towards understanding our fellow man.
My Rating: ****
Review by Jared Mills
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