Due to the horrible murder of George Floyd by the former Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin I started thinking of the film BlacKkKlansman by Spike Lee.
Most of the world is plagued by racism but one country where it seems an even bigger problem is the United States. The constant police brutality that is mainly focused at the black community has been happening since the beginning of the American police force.
Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman is based on a true story about a Black cop who infiltrates the KKK. The film is set in 1970 and follows Ron Stallworth (portrayed by John David Washington), an enthusiastic black officer who gets placed in the file room as soon as he gets hired. Whilst working in the file room he is constantly tormented by his white colleague, until they need him to infiltrate a Black Student Union event at which an ex-Black Panther leader (Corey Hawkins) is speaking. At this event he meets his future love interest Patrice (Laura Harrier), she talks about that black police officers are just more of the same.
To prove to himself that he is not the same as the other police officers he answers an advertisement from the KKK. He calls the number in the advertisement and pretends to be a white man using his ”white voice”. Soon Ron realises the mistake he has made by using his real name on the phone. He sends his Jewish police officer Flip Zimmerman (Adam Driver) colleague to do the face to face meetings with the Klan. Their goal is to infiltrate the local division of the Klan and prevent them from doing more harm.
Whilst undercover, Flip deals with the racism of all kinds, from the Holocaust to general hating on everything that is not white. The relationship between Ron and Flip is the driving force behind the film. They both struggle with an internal fight. Flip realises he feels more connected to his ancestry than he thought, and Ron needs to balance the relationship between his girlfriend and his role as a pseudo Klansman. Throughout the film you also see multiple instances of police brutality directed at the black community.
Both actors portray their struggles in such a magnificent way. You feel their disgust when they are talking to the KKK members. During the phone calls Washington finds a balance of being believable to the KKK leader, but not revealing his true feelings and motivations.
Spike Lee ends the film with footage from the Charlottesville protests. This is a great way to link the film back to modern times. It shows that the white supremacist of today are still a threat, their methods might be different but their motives are still the same.
In my opinion BlacKkKlansman is a masterpiece of historical filmmaking, it perfectly shows the struggles and issues of the past, and finds a way to make them relatable to modern times. I think that now more than ever we as humans need to stand together against violence of all kinds, but most importantly the police brutality aimed at the black community.
I would rate BlacKkKlansman an eight out of ten.
References
Focus Features, 2018. Golden Tomato Awards. [image] Available at: <https://www.focusfeatures.com/blackkklansman> [Accessed 31 May 2020].
BLACKkKLANSMAN. 2020. [DVD] Directed by S. Lee. United States: Focus Features.