Malcolm X. DVD. Directed Spike Lee. 1992; Universal City, CA: Warner Home Video, 1992.
Directed by Spike Lee, Malcolm X does an exceptional job of creating the realism that surrounded his life. From the pain to the joy, everything is there. The film begins with a title sequence featuring an American flag in a blaze of fire with George Holliday’s iconic and controversial videotaped footage of the beating of Los Angeles motorist Rodney King. A voice-over of Denzel Washington as Malcolm X angrily condemns and berates white America: “We don’t see the American dream; we’ve experienced only the American nightmare!” Then in a flash, the burning flag becomes the letter “X.”
Denzel Washington, who portrays Malcolm X, is absolutely sensational. He truly brings X to life in a way that honestly makes you believe that he is truly who he is portraying. The movie opens with Malcolm X coming into Boston during the war years, but follows until his death. During this transition, it also included numerous childhood flashbacks, that makes you understand how and why X is the way he is.
Shockingly, Spike Lee did this by taking the autobiography and a screenplay by Arnold Perl.
Based off of these two things, Spike Lee attempted the impossible and made a film that is not same, or even the equivalent, to the book, but it’s a hard-nosed biographical film that isn’t easily classified. Some may call it a biography, while others will call it a movie. Some simply call it genius.
Malcolm Little was born in 1925 in Omaha, Neb., to Earl and Louise Little. His father was a Baptist reverend who supported Marcus Garvey and was a local leader of the Universal Negro Improvement Association. Malcolm’s father, Earl Little was run over by a streetcar in Lansing in 1931. The police called this an accidentally death but Malcolm believed that the Ku Klux Klan had killed his father. In 1938 Louise Little had a nervous breakdown and was declared legally insane. She was committed to the state mental hospital at Kalamazoo, Mich.
Malcolm was one of the best students in middle school, but he dropped out after an eighth-grade teacher told him that his aspirations of being a lawyer were “no realistic goal for a nigger. After this happened Malcolm moved to Boston, Massachusetts to live with his half-sister, Ella Little Collins. In Boston Malcolm was introduced to the Zoot Suit phase. He worked many different jobs and then went out at night. This is where Malcolm was introduced to crime.
On Jan. 12, 1946, he was arrested for burglary after trying to pick up a stolen watch he had left for repairs at a jewelry shop. Two days later, he was indicted for carrying firearms. On Jan. 16, he was charged with larceny and breaking and entering. Malcolm was sentenced to eight to 10 years in Massachusetts State Prison. When Malcolm was going into jail, he made a promise to himself. He promised that he wouldn’t waste his time in there. He would educate himself to the best of his ability.
He ended up doing more then just that as he went on to teach himself to read and read a lot. He read every day and every night for hours on end. By the time it was time to come out of jail, he was a changed man.
Upon his release from prison, Malcolm converted to the nation of Islam. Due to his good looks and charismatic personality, he became a very strong speaker for the nation of Islam. This is when he changed his last name to X. In June 1953, Malcolm X was named assistant minister of the Nation of Islam’s Temple Number One in Detroit. He was later he selected to lead the Nation of Islam’s Temple Number Seven in Harlem. He became the voice of the nation of Islam. Around this time, Martin Luther King Jr. appeared on the scene. Malcolm and MLK had very different tactics. MLK was for peace by peace. Malcolm X was for peace by any means necessary.
In 1958, Malcolm X married Betty X in Lansing, Mich. The couple had six daughters. Their names were Attallah, Qubilah, Ilyasah Gamilah Lumumba and twins, Malaak and Malikah.
On Feb. 21, 1965, in Manhattan’s Audubon Ballroom, Malcolm X began to speak to a meeting of the Organization of Afro-American Unity when a disturbance broke out in the crowd of 400. A man yelled, “Nigga! Get your hand outta my pocket!” As Malcolm X and his bodyguards moved to quiet the disturbance, a man rushed forward and shot Malcolm X in the chest with a shotgun. Two other men charged the stage and fired handguns, hitting him 16 times. Malcolm X was pronounced dead shortly after he arrived at Columbia Presbyterian Hospital. The number of mourners who came to the public viewing in Harlem’s Unity Funeral Home from February 23 through February 26 was estimated to be between 14,000 and 30,000.
Spike Lee’s film is of historical fact, it’s a biography and a political commentary – that is intended to raise social consciousness of what occurred. In my opinion, Lee did this very well and left a lasting impression on cinema.
This absolutely should be shown in any class that is talking about either Malcolm X or just talking about racial history. It gets a 10 out of 10 in my book, both for acting and directing.
