BlackKKlansman (2018)

☆ ☆ ☆ ☆

BlackKKlansman (2018) – S. Lee

Spike Lee captures the zeitgeist with this highly entertaining (yet ultimately sobering) tale of a black cop’s investigation of the KKK in the early 1970s (based on a true story).  John David Washington plays Ron Stallworth who joins the Colorado Springs police and, after being asked to go undercover to investigate students radicalised by the Black Panthers, begins his own investigation into the Klan.  The only catch is that he can’t actually meet the Klan members in person (only talking to them on the phone, including to David Duke played by Topher Grace).  Instead, colleague Adam Driver takes on the role of “Ron Stallworth” and goes undercover into the local chapter of “the Organisation”.  In doing so, he is forced to consider his own Jewishness and the fact that he has been “passing” as a WASP, in the same way the black Stallworth has been doing on the phone.  Lee offers a nice discussion of double consciousness here and he also uses the film to offer some very topical discussions of police violence against black victims and the “normalising” of white supremacism.  There are some pointed jabs at Trump when Klan members refer to making America great.  But surprisingly the film, for all its seriousness, is actually fun and even comic.  Lee embellishes the story with some creative directorial choices (e.g. the highlighted faces during Kwame Ture’s speech) and the period detail and music are spot on.  Yet, Lee knows better than to leave viewers feeling that the Klan action (and the comedic bumbling involved) is all in the past – he leaves us with fresh reminders of the continuation (and resurgence) of racism in the present with real and harrowing footage from the Charlottesville, Virginia, march where white supremacists were challenged by protesters and a woman died (along with Trump’s ambivalent response and David Duke’s capitalisation on it).  Highly recommended.