Malcolm X

Scribe's Review:

When I first rented this film, I thought I was gonna be watching a porno with an all-black cast, a true rarity in those days. Imagine my surprise when I found out it was about some guy who, like, lived a long time ago? And totally, like, changed the role of, like, blacks in Americaaaaaa?

OK, maybe not. But you know somebody out there thought that!

"Malcolm X" was director Spike Lee's first stab at legitimate epic film making and he mostly succeeded. Gone were his earlier jump cut MTV video segments and preachy rhetoric.

The film follows young Malcolm Little as he winds up in prison during the zoot suit era and experiences a visitation from the prophet of black Islam, Elijah Mohammed, who informs he will be a great leader some day. Malcolm begins studying the American version of Islam and, like everybody in prison, discovers religion and betters himself.

Only, in his case, Malcolm actually maintains his new found mentality. At first he is a mere follower, but his overwhelming charisma eventually casts him in the role of leader to such an extent that the powers within the Islamic movement begin to see him as a threat.

Although he looks nothing like him, Denzel Washington does an incredible job of channeling Malcolm X's characteristics to a point where you no longer question him in the role. Angela Basset is also fantastic in the role of Betty Shabazz, the only woman he ever loved and the only woman who was ever his equal. Basset would actually go on to reprise this role in the film "Panther."

Surprisingly, director Lee works magic with his camera, emulating the finest directors of epic films. The scenes in Mecca are actually breathtaking.

The film is flawed, however. Lee seems reluctant to implicate the followers of Islam in X's assassination and we never see Louis Farrakhan's scheming ass throughout the entire film. Many whites found this film offensive, equating its perceived glorification of the divisive Malcolm X as being akin to making a film about what a great singing voice Hitler had. The difference is, Malcolm X realized how wrong he was. It cost him his life. Hitler died filled with hate.

Sorry, not the same thing.

****1/2 out of *****

Green's Review:

Painful. Over three hours long and on two VHS tapes with a poor audio track on the cassettes. Absolutely painful.

This is director Spike Lee's tributary biopic on the life of Malcolm X (pictured, left), from his early days to his murder/assassination on February 21, 1965 at age 39.

Of the choices the Scribester gave me, this film was the most appealing. I'll admit going into this that I did not know much about Malcolm X, so watching this movie was definitely a learning experience for me. The only things I knew were that he was an African-American political figure during the Civil Rights Era of the 1960's and a follower of Islam. I also knew that he was murdered, but did not know any of the details of how or why.

It's obvious from the beginning that Malcolm X is one of Spike Lee's heroes and he treats the subject with the utmost respect and attention to detail. Denzel Washington is a superb actor and his performance holds this film together. The film itself is based in part on the biography of Malcolm X by Alex Haley. I'm not sure how far Lee's script strays from the book, but I've no doubt he took pains to be as historically accurate as possible. My favorite part of the film was at the end, when Lee incorporates real footage of X and in particular the tribute given him by Martin Luther King, Jr. after his assassination.

My only criticism is that this film is waaaaaaaaay too long and drags a bit in several places. It could have been done just as well in 2 1/2 hours instead of 3 hours and 21 minutes. It's too bad that I couldn't find the DVD because I probably missed out on some very informative special features. Still, this is an important film which helps us to understand one of America's most controversial figures of the 20th Century.

**** out of *****