BlacKkKlansman is a biographical comedy-drama based on the accounts written by retired cop Ron Stallworth. It documents his early career life as the first black man to join the Colorado Springs police force and obliterate a local Ku Klux Klan chapter.
Director Spike Lee is a prominent figure known for voicing out the inequalities faced by the black community in United States of America, through his works of art. His 1989 debut Do the Right Thing was a classically perfect social commentary taped on celluloid! With 2018's BlacKkKlansman, you could say the filmmaker's back in full similar form to tackle the very same issues that, depressingly, still exist as we speak now.
With Alec Baldwin's guided deliverance in the beginning, although you can't see a character there but only the actor himself, his strong monologue delivery firmly set and lock the premise plus subject background. Even after Civil War, the racial hatred towards the coloured people by white supremacists was still lying under the surface. While the tension flame was still smouldering, as aforementioned, our protagonist entered the tale to become a member of the police force. Being the first black cop, we see him slowly levelling up and transforming into a force of change from within the police department.
Screenwriters who adapted this memoir into a movie screenplay understood the concept of tension, conflict and drama accurately before manifesting said basic principle on characters and scenes. Ron Stallworth (John David Washington) as a black man and cop is alike, as described in the script, "having two body in one". This generated a fine subdued internal conflict for our hero. The same can be said about Adam Driver's persona Detective Philip Zimmerman; a Jew officer infiltrating the Ku Klux Klan organization. He had a subtle arc - from someone who doesn’t care to a person who touches the border of at least giving a thought about rituals, heritage and oppression.
You would love to watch the constant bull-heading between Felix (Jasper Pääkkönen) and Philip! Lie detector test, actual Ron's residential address, Dallas-El Paso miss-off, every meeting Philip has with the KKK and the whole finale where his true identity came close to be uncovered were the best segments in the entire feature! Plotting of events were solid, with Kwame Ture allocution-listening assignment and C4 explosion climax being intense! Ron nailing the arrests of the corrupt police and Grand Wizard David Duke (Topher Grace) himself were cathartic payoffs!
One thing to immensely admire here is, the writers didn't hold back from anything. It's bold, open and transparent from start till end! The dialogues were sharp, simple and clear! It's disturbing to witness such heavy load of racism being shown onscreen, but that's the exact negativity that fuelled the film's engine horsepower! 'Birth of a Nation' screening, 'pig' harassment and Jesse's story being narrated simultaneously with KKK members initiation were powerful sequences.
The idea and plan to trick a local chapter of Ku Klux Klan was a fantastic one, no doubt. But one must say, the transition to that particular mission was abrupt. First the proceeding focused on Ron eavesdropping into a black people discourse gathering. Next minute, he's chasing after the KKK after seeing a newspaper advertisement. If the Kwame Ture motivational talk was meant to be the 'debate' section of Act I before the protagonist pursued his plot goal, it sure didn't work as organically and effectively as it should have. Also, what was the point of Ron Stalwart being the propeller here? Since Philip could impersonate him well both physically and audibly, Ron's function as the 'phone speaker' became redundant as Philip could easily do that too. Why would you knowingly risk your undercover operation with an original and impersonator when Philip could do the job by himself just fine? Was Ron forced in as the protagonist just because the hero should be black? With these being said, Philip and Ron both being non-white individuals did place some merit to their skin in the game. Before we forget, how and why is it okay to publicly advertise in newspapers the moniker Ku Klux Klan with a phone number attached to it, but it's completely prohibited to mention the organization's name in a private car conversation between two individuals with the same interest in mind?
This is a film that contained great performances throughout! John David Washington as Ron Stallworth was good! The way he juggled between English and jive was amazing! If nothing at all, his anger / frustration vent-out was so funny to watch! Adam Driver was awesome, along with Jasper Pääkkönen and Paul Walter Hauser as Ivanhoe. Not to forget, Corey Hawkins as Kwame Ture did a powerful and influential job with his speech and Tarzan example! Film editing was snappy and to-the-point, just like most of the scenes which had its purpose as the face. Background score was nice and it was magical to experience Cornelius Brothers & Sister Rose' 'Too Late to Turn Back Now' on silver screen! Make up, wigs and prosthetics were a bit fake though.
While the motion picture was a movement itself, one can't help but see the director's personal agenda got in the way of the storytelling. It is clear that the director broke the fourth wall and spoke directly to the audiences, with examples like black people's images shown during Kwame Ture's conference and blaxploitation movie posters pasted onscreen when a discussion was going on between two characters. When a filmmaker gets too directly in touch with the audiences in the expense of narrative, that's how stories turn into propagandas. A person with personal agenda will have bias, thus losing credibility to his or her fictional accuracy. A small instance for everyone: Notice how every black characters' costumers were meticulously designed whereas attires for the white characters were plain and dull in comparison? Now, this could be a total coincidence, but it's not surprising to see such biases happening onscreen intentionally or unintentionally. This is why it's important to isolate personal bias / agenda when making a film that's personal. With all these being said, the showcase of real life recordings were incredibly shocking and proved the filmmaker wasn't exaggerating.