Watching Spike Lee’s new film Blackkklansman, I was reminded at times of a cutaway gag in a Family Guy episode joking about “the average white person in a Spike Lee movie”, depicting them as wild, rapid hissing lunatics at the sight of a minority. You ain’t seen nothing yet, Mr. Lee seems to be thinking throughout this film’s narrative. Never shy about his political and social beliefs, he holds nothing back in his evisceration of the Ku Klux Klan- through an adaption of the story of Ron Stallsworth, a Black detective from Colorado Springs who successfully infiltrated the Klan in a sting operation.
Lee’s stylistic touches are in full effect here as he does a great job highlighting the emotions of his characters through well-timed musical cues and uniquely styled shots, as well as the depravity of its racist antagonists. A good example is the opening featuring “Dr. Beauregard”, a poison-filled Southerner played by Alec Baldwin. As he stutters and stammers to get his slur-filled speech right, a video projection illuminates his face in different ominous shades that make him seem even more monstrous.
John David Washington’s Ron is the first officer of color in his department- and unfortunately, that comes with needless guff from bigoted fellow cops. But despite the skepticism of Chief Bridges (Robert John Burke), he’s determined to make his mark as an undercover cop. Bridges wants him to go to a Kwame Ture (played by a fantastic Corey Hawkins) speech in order to make sure the Black students at the local campus aren’t inspired to shake the system too much, but instead it becomes a significant moment of character development for Ron- as well as his introduction to Patrice (Laura Harrier), a student organizer and the film’s love interest.
Aided by an experienced partner of Jewish descent, Flip Zimmerman (a very strong and convincing Adam Driver), Stallworth makes a series of calls disguising his voice. He portrays himself as an angry, bigoted white yokel as he tries to uncover a KKK plot for future acts of terrorism against the town.
Of course, the Klan members on the other line are so stupid and wrapped up in their stereotypes of what white and black people sound like, Ron is able to make significant headway. These exchanges are oddly comical because the audience can’t help but chuckle at how dense and foolish these characters’ prejudices are, but Lee is more than able to display how horrifying hatred can truly become.
Two prime examples come in the form of Klan leader Felix (Jasper Paakkonen), and his house wife Connie (Ashlie Atkinson) who spews some revolting dialogue in a casual manner that’s downright unsettling. While the real Ron Stallworth monitors Zimmerman from afar, Flip poses as the fictional “Ron Stallworth’s” public face as the two officers work in-person encounters to get evidence.
Felix’s suspicion of Flip provokes some unexpected soul searching for him regarding his personal identity, which makes things for the real Ron more complicated once he gains a foothold with Klan leader David Duke himself (Topher Grace). To top it off, Patrice is becoming more anti-authority as her relationship with Ron develops, not wanting to align herself with the police in the name of Black empowerment. A fun discussion between the two regarding hit Blaxploitation films of the day becomes a ground for debate regarding Black images in media, which has long been one of Lee’s key fascinations.
Blackkklansman is smart and subversive in how it deconstructs the folly of racism, as Lee directs scenes that can both tug on the emotions of the audience- such as Ron discovering firing targets modeled like racist cartoons, a Klan meeting where members hoot and holler at Birth Of A Nation while a student meeting takes place elsewhere, or Flip being forced to take a lie detector test at gunpoint- as well as make them chuckle, and defeat its villains in a way to where we laugh and cheer at these bumbling heels fail miserably.
The filmmakers are also wise to show moments of the characters just casually being themselves, such as Connie and Felix being rancid and hateful in bed together, or Ron dancing his troubles away at a nightclub. This helps them feel more realized, without Spike Lee compromising his intent.
After the main story is finished, Lee makes the interesting choice to end the movie with raw footage of the tragic events during an anti-hate protest at Charlottesville, along with comments from a present-day David Duke. I thought this was pretty bold and smart. You see, Jordan Peele was an executive producer for the film, and he expressed some frustration last year at his socially charged hit Get Out being nominated for “Best Musical or Comedy” at the Golden Globes.
So while there is a fair amount of tension-cutting humor in this film, Peele and Lee are out to rebuke the Klan in its past and present, and they certainly do not want the audience to take any of the movie’s subject matter lightly leaving the theater.
For adult audiences who are searching for a film with a clear, passionate message or for those who are interested in a captivating police drama, I’ll gladly recommend Blackkklansman as one of Spike’s strongest and most pointed movies in a while. It aims to entertain, but also make the audience uncomfortable and willing to think. If you’ve had the chance to check it out, let us know how you felt on Twitter’s @Official_FAN!