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racism is presented as a dichotomy between the absurd and the dangerous in “BlacKkKlansman,” and the film’s intentional laughs frequently become stuck in the throat. Adapted from Ron Stallworth’s 2014 autobiography, the film is directed by Spike Lee and written by Charlie Wachtel, David Rabinowitz, and Kevin Willmott. The story of deception is based on some “fo’ real, fo’ real sh*t” that was first covered in Ron Stallworth’s autobiography. Stallworth was a Black Colorado Springs police officer who was successful in infiltrating the Ku Klux Klan, even going so far as to speak with the Klan’s leader, David Duke, on multiple occasions. Stallworth’s undercover police work, aided by an immeasurable amount of assistance from his White partner, Flip Zimmerman (Adam Driver), assisted in exposing and putting down an attack on African-American political activists.
This is not Lee’s first depiction of the Ku Klux Klan in a film. A ridiculously large moon hung in the sky during the film’s final scene, in which they were presented as riding “victoriously” into the night. It’s a brief scene, but its meaning is clear: Lee is alluding to D.W. Griffith’s “The Birth of a Nation,” one of the most effective pieces of racist propaganda ever produced, but he isn’t paying any homage to the film. Griffith and his film were given a middle finger instead of a middle finger was given to them by the obvious fabrication of the gorgeous, celestial backdrop behind the Klan. However, while the action in Lee’s scene is dramatic and played straight, the technique itself is parodic, as if to call bullshit on the notion that Griffith’s filmmaking ability excused the vileness of what he depicted in the first place.
Lee has more middle fingers to wave at Griffith’s alleged “masterpiece” in “BlacKkKlansman,” beginning with the use of footage from “The Birth of a Nation” itself, which is a first for Lee. A Klan meeting is shown to be showing it, and it also appears in a pre-credits short film starring Alec Baldwin in the role of Dr. Kennebrew Beauregard, who has the awesomely named title character. Just like in “Glengarry Glen Ross,” he sinks his teeth into a ranting monologue, only this time, instead of harping on steak knives and the prospect of unemployment, this incarnation of Baldwin is peddling racism on a filmtrip. His performance is far from flawless; he has been known to stumble over his words or require lines to be read to him from an off-screen script person on several occasions.
This is disgusting, but it serves to prepare us for the horrible slurs and comments that we will hear almost nonstop for the next 135 minutes, thanks to Dr. Beauregard’s words. “Who’d believe a thing this guy is selling?” you might wonder as you watch Lee project distracting images over Beauregard as he delivers his imperfect line readings. Dr. Beauregard, on the other hand, will have no trouble finding buyers. They’ll overlook the fact that he appears ridiculous because they believe, in the words of Randy Newman, that “he may be a fool, but he’s one of our fools.”
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Following that, we meet our main character, who is played by Denzel Washington’s lookalike son, John David Washington, in his first appearance. Lee’s camera is smitten with the younger Washington, just as his father was. With a delicate touch that is unusually chaste for a Spike Lee film, cinematographer Chayse Irvin caresses his handsomeness from the moment he first appears. As Ron Stallworth approaches the Colorado Springs Police Department building, the camera hovers above him, capturing his every move as he walks into the frame of the shot. Because of his impressive ’70s-era threads and an enviable halo of Afro-formed hair, Stallworth appears to have emerged from some sort of funky, soul-filled ethereal realm. He pats his coif and directs his gaze directly at us, displaying a level of confidence that will be tested on a number of occasions throughout the evening. First and foremost, his job interview serves as a quiz for him.
In response, Stallworth is informed that “we’ve never had a Black police officer.” “It appears you’ve been assigned to be the Jackie Robinson of the Colorado Springs police department.” This is a loaded and telling statement; Robinson was ruthlessly taunted by baseball fans who hurled the ugliest rhetoric at him, to which he was powerless to respond lest he be perceived as “uncivilized” by the White fans who didn’t want him there in the first place, and to which he was powerless to respond.
In order to ensure that there are no Negro insurrections, Police Chief Bridges (Robert John Burke) wants to ensure that his officers do not get too rowdy with the new recruit. The question is, “What would you do if someone called you a nigger?” Stallworth is questioned by Bridges’ cohort. “Does that sound like something that would happen?” Stallworth asks, his voice full of skepticism. The answer to this question generates the most amusing response of the entire year.
Blackkklansman Quiz
Based on how you appear, people will make assumptions about how you should behave and what you should believe. An underlying theme of “BlacKkKlansman” is that of police corruption. Stallworth aspires to be an undercover detective, but as Zimmerman points out, no rookie has ever been assigned to such a position, and certainly no rookie of color has ever been assigned such a position. The following day, after an eventful visit to his department’s records room, Stallworth is assigned to infiltrate a Black student group’s rally with activist and former Black Panther Kwame Ture (an electric Corey Hawkins). Despite the fact that Chief Bridges’ intentions for this stakeout are outwardly racist—he does not want the town’s Black residents to suddenly become radicalized and excited by the fervor of Ture’s speech—Stallworth accepts the assignment in order to establish a connection with the local community.
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During Stallworth’s stakeout, the audience gets its first glimpse of the concept of passing. After all, passing is a form of going undercover, albeit a permanent form of concealment and evasion. The rally introduces Stallworth to student group organizer Patrice (Laura Harrier), whose legitimate distrust of the police will keep him from passing himself off as a civilian in order to win her affections and win her heart. However, when Stallworth becomes involved with the most common form of passing, that of an African-American passing for a white person, “BlacKkKlansman” really delves into the art of passing. A newspaper advertisement for The Ku Klux Klan leads Stallworth to call and convincingly spew all manner of offensive invective at the answering machine. Racism’s absurd side is heightened by the sight of a Black man ranting about how much he despises Black people. Because of this, Stallworth’s evil White persona is invited to an informal get-together with the other characters.
Flip Zimmerman enters the picture at this point in the story. Another well-known civil rights activist (whose identity I will not reveal) will be in town, and there is credible evidence that the KKK is planning an act of violence during his appearance. Stallworth hopes to get close enough to the Klan to be able to thwart their plans. Although his telephone antics can get him by for a while, he will need a more convincing disguise for personal appearances in order to be successful. Zimmerman is hired despite the fact that he is not a practicing Jew. The Stallworth Brothers are a fictional duo who work together on a case under the alias “The Stallworth Brothers.” Zimmerman is the “face” of Ron Stallworth, and the real Stallworth is the suspicious Black man who follows Zimmerman around in the shadows, taking surveillance photographs of his every move. Zimmerman learns how to impersonate Stallworth’s “White voice” by reciting lyrics from America’s true poet of Soul, James Brown, just for kicks and giggles.
This undercover investigation transforms the film into the story of two people who are both attempting to pass for a racist White person in the same situation. Zimmerman appears to have the easier task because he has the correct skin color, but the psychological toll of having to pretend to be someone who would despise his true identity weighs heavily on his shoulders. When it comes to Zimmerman’s scenes, Lee masterfully balances the aforementioned dichotomy, frequently joking around with Stallworth’s phone conversations (especially when talking to an excellent Topher Grace as David Duke), while maintaining a masterful, tense hold on Zimmerman’s scenes. There’s always the possibility that he’ll be exposed, especially by the tenacious Felix (a frightening Jasper Pääkkönen), who immediately suspects him of being Jewish and doesn’t let up on his suspicions for very long. When the two tonal halves finally come together, it is in the form of a climactic race against time that is among the most harrowing and provocative work Lee has ever created.
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Despite the fact that Washington is outstanding in this film, I was more intrigued by Driver’s character. I believe this is partly due to my firsthand knowledge of the difficulties Ron Stallworth faced as the only Black person employed at his place of employment. Having experienced open hostility, White colleagues’ jokes about his intelligence level, and the assumption that your skin color determines your intelligence level, I can say with certainty that I’ve been there, done that, and am still doing it. What initially drew me to Flip Zimmerman was the idea of him having to “pass” in an environment where people automatically assumed he was of a different race. His passing, on the other hand, is not visible; it is mental. After years of not giving his Jewishness much thought, Zimmerman can’t help but think about it all the time now, especially in the face of his newfound friends’ anti-Semitic comments on a regular basis.
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“Why do you think you don’t have any skin in this game?” Stallworth inquires of his companion. In part because Zimmerman has the ability to avoid the vitriol that would otherwise be directed at him if he chooses to do so. But I’ve often wondered how much the person who carried out this act of self-preservation was forced to spend in order to do so. Ultimately, Zimmerman hopes to exact revenge on the Klan, or at the very least, to expose their complete lack of knowledge about the situation. However, for someone like a relative of mine who chose to live his life as a White man in North Carolina, the only thing that mattered was simply surviving. What, if any, portion of his soul was lost as a result of this?
I believe Lee is also intrigued by Zimmerman in a similar way. In contrast to Stallworth, Lee never provides us with a scene in which Zimmerman feels complete respite or relief from his role-playing once the case begins to unfold. Although Stallworth is deceiving himself about his profession, he at least has a romantic interest to keep him occupied and entertained. “BlacKkKlansman” contains two scenes in which it appears as if director Spike Lee and editor Barry Alexander Brown allowed them to drag on for far too long, until you realize that these scenes depict Black people in moments when they are not preoccupied with anything other than the joy and power of simply being themselves. In contrast, Zimmerman’s scenes with the Klan are always unpleasant, even when the crew appears to be having a good time; these scenes can’t come soon enough.
A lot of people will consider “BlacKkKlansman” to be the antithesis of “Birth of a Nation,” and I’m sure that some less-enlightened people will consider it to be racial propaganda on the same level as “Birth of a Nation.” The question is, what else do Lee and his producer, Jordan Peele, hope to accomplish with this amazing, funny, and important film? According to most experts, the answer can be found in the film’s coda, which shows footage from the incident in Charlottesville that claimed Heather Heyer’s life. In fact, the premiere of this film takes place on the anniversary weekend of those occurrences. In addition to being an extremely effective and righteous trolling device, this raw footage, which follows perhaps the best use of Lee’s trademark people-mover shot in film history, serves as a terrifying reminder that we are not so far removed from the period-piece world we have just witnessed. With this film, Lee, a man who has never given a damn about what anyone thinks of his politics, is unafraid of speaking the truth to power. Before concluding his film with the only Prince song that could have ended it, Lee dedicates “BlacKkKlansman” to Heyer’s memory, writing “rest in power” beneath a photograph of her.
This is not only one of the best films of the year, but it is also one of Lee’s best works. The director is firing on all cylinders here, juggling the somber and the hilarious, the sacred and the profane, the tragedy and the triumph, and it shows. The film “BlacKkKlansman” is a genuine conversation starter, and it is likely to be a conversation ender as well as a conversation starter.
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