Blackkklansman

From visionary filmmaker Spike Lee comes the incredible true story of an American hero. It’s the early 1970s, and Ron Stallworth (John David Washington) is the first African-American detective to serve in the Colorado Springs Police Department. Determined to make a name for himself, Stallworth bravely sets out on a dangerous mission: infiltrate and expose the Ku Klux Klan. The young detective soon recruits a more seasoned colleague, Flip Zimmerman (Adam Driver), into the undercover investigation of a lifetime. Together, they team up to take down the extremist hate group as the organization aims to sanitize its violent rhetoric to appeal to the mainstream. Produced by the team behind the Academy-Award® winning Get Out.

Blackkklansman has been causing quite a stir in the box office recently, not only has its outrageous advertisements attracted people to go and watch the film but it also relates to current events which similarly to 'Love, Simon', I think is a really great element that just means that the way this film communicates is insane. It is a story about a black police officer who aims to join and infiltrate the infamous KKK, and whilst doing so the film really aimed to have a real impact on audiences, long after they have left the cinema and the film definitely achieved this. But the question is, was this for a positive reason or simply because I found the film awful to watch? I will warn you though, get yourself a drink because it's a long review... Here are my thoughts.

As always, I'll start with what I liked about this film. Just a quick warning though, there's a lot! Like I said in the introduction, I always love films that portray current events because it just adds so much more passion and meaning to audiences, as it's something we are experiencing now and even though this film is based nearly 50 years ago, the meaning is still as true and powerful as ever. That theme was used throughout the whole of the film, right from the very beginning which aimed to catch the audiences attention through the portraiture of a racist white man ranting about black people and Jews. It instantly caused a real shock to the audience, resulting in the film entertaining and causing a real element of shock and maybe even horror to audiences. But I feel that these scenes of the aggressive man really summarised old fashioned and out of date opinions and values really accurately, not only did this add an element of authenticity to the film, but it also helped to establish the racist and evil characters within the film, all of whom shared the same hatred. This hatred was shown throughout the film which felt like a documentary/film mix instead of purely a film, simply because of the narrative which had a really important part to play in introducing characters and the timescale that the film was set in. But most importantly the main character, Ron Stallworth, was introduced very nicely, from being bullied because of his race from the very beginning, this introduced a charactersitic of 'something to prove' from Ron, which fuelled the rest of the film. We were introduced to this character really nicely and what I especially liked was that throughout the film, relationships and friendships seemed to evolve really fluidly and nicely, Ron started off as an unpopular, 'rookie', but towards the end of the film it really felt like an experience and we as an audience were cheering Ron on during his celebration after the conviction. The film also spends a suitable time introducing these characters that float into the film, through a variety of really engaging and important dialogue we could understand the types of characters that we were dealing with. For example, the redneck character who could barely string a sentence together, and the groups of bald, white racist men which left us to decipher who these characters were, but amazingly it was really easy and straightforward.

These characters were engaging and really interesting too, seeing the different beliefs through constant switches of the white and black parades, we could see real differences in the different attitudes and opinions towards the 'race battle' that is mentioned so much in the film. These were the types of scenes that were most engaging during the film, because they really added to the authentic nature of the film and made it seem really believable. However, it also helped the film to engage with the audience by getting us involved in both sides of the story and really experiencing the different beliefs they held. I also really liked how the film seemed to jump right into the plot, there was sufficient and appropriate time at the beginning to establish the characters and the scenery, but I liked how it wasn't overdone and this quick switch ensured that the film stayed engaging throughout through really inspiring scenes. For example a whole 10 minutes was dedicated to showing a speech from a passionate black man talking about the struggles he had experienced. This may seem like a long time, but it was so passionate and well structured that this speech added in so much to the film, it really helped to drive the audiences emotions and to make the film a reality. So that we could truly feel and experience the struggles and issues that the group faced at that time. But then as equally important, we were exposed to a white supremacy meeting, which was really shocking and at some points horrifying due to the dialogue used; but it was so important to see the differences between the two races and it just really helped to establish the whole plot amazingly well. Especially as the film jumped between the two perspectives and at some points overlapping (using dialogue form the black pride meeting and video scenes from the white supremacy meetings) to create an indescribable effect. If I was to write everything I liked about this film then I'd be here for ages so I'll keep it short. The element that I liked the most about this film was how it seemed to really grab the audience and build an emotional bond and connection with not only the characters but also the plot. The plot had an amazing, long term effect on the audience, it had so many inspiring and amazing scenes in that it is honestly one of my favourite films, not only of the year but ever, because of how much it affected audiences. The film showed the daily struggle of black people during that time period amazingly, being constantly racially abused, being pulled over at the side of a road and sexually assaulted, being beaten up and trialed in a court by an all white jury and even horrifying scenes of a man describing a lynching he saw. This film used scenes like these and just made them really emotionally attaching, they were so powerful in the manner that they were shown. The characters, camera angles and dialogue really helped to personify this fear and display it perfectly to the audience, constantly showing white characters being above their counterparts, pan shots of the white men shooting targets shaped as black men. All of these combined to make not just a film but an experience.

The aggression in this film is really authentic and believable too, which showed real passion from all of the actors and for me, was definitely one of the best elements of the film because it just made the film so believable and realistic to see how passionate they were. One of the best examples of this was seeing a sweet housewife, and then shocking the audience by displaying her using racist language and referencing Hitler and the Nazis. Not only shocking the audience, but also helping to show the attitudes of people during that time period and the struggle of their counterparts amazingly well. Even though these scenes of Hitler salutes and lynching were shocking and sickening, they showed the struggle and evil nature of the racist men amazingly well and just really sent shivers down my spine due to how it was portrayed - it really built an emotional connection with the audience amazingly. Seeing these characters in different environments really helped to make them engaging, the transition between work and play really made these characters believable. This film is full of shocking scenes though, and even though they create really strong impact, they are horrifying. For example some characters claiming that "the holocaust was a lie" and some of the images and speech used by the racists was really horrible and shocking throughout, although like I said, it made the film all the more authentic. The plot in this film was what I liked though and how it was executed, it moved quickly but the main element was established so early that the audience were simply able to relax and allow the film to just gently flow across, which made it really easy to keep up with and understand. With the help of narrative and quick snippets of videos and images from the time. The plot meant something too which made it all the better, and we saw a real development in the characters as they went though the plot, making scenes where they met new characters really engaging and almost as if we were one of the people in the film watching. There was a nice mixture of emotions in the film, for such a sensitive film, there was a lot of well humoured comedy that was genuinely funny, but there was a contrast and shocking scenes with caused a really pure emotion of sadness and disbelief. These emotions were weighted really nicely and worked together to have a great effect on the film, creating a really strong yet passionate and emotional bond with the audience.

Like I said, I don't have enough time to describe the rest so I'll move onto what I didn't like so much about the film. First of all, I think that some of the language was just a little over the top, the N and C words were used far too much for my liking and I appreciate that it makes the film seem realistic and genuine, but I just feel that dropping the C bomb in a film isn't a good idea at all. I was also a little unimpressed as to why the film went into some scenes so quickly, spending long periods of time on some irrelevant shots but then spending hardly any time on key elements of the story, such as the dancing scene which seemed to go on forever. It didn't really seem to have a strong impact and ruined the flow of the film a little bit for me, which was a shame. But sudden events, changes in character and things that weren't too well introduced, made the films plot a little difficult to keep up with in places. Instead of watching the film, we were left questioning as to why some scenes were in the film and what their relevance was.

The 'right time right place' element of film was apparent a lot in this film too which was slightly annoying, Ron seemed to get to the scene in perfect timing every single time and just some aspects of the plot made me question it ever so slightly, it was a bit annoying how well timed his schedule was, but it did make for good film. The audio didn't help massively with this, it played for long pieces of the film but it didn't really help to match the mood or create something with the audience, it just felt a little obsolete and similar throughout for me unfortunately.

Overall, I would give this film a 9. It was a real masterpiece and the authenticity that this film showed to the audience was honestly amazing, I can safely say that this film was engaging on a level that I haven't experienced from a film before. The addition of Nazi salutes and swastikas showed a real anger and aggression of the racist men amazingly well and it was really shocking to see scenes where they had their white overalls on, or they were burning a cross, or holding a swastikas flag. Like I said before, these scenes were key to adding in the element of realism and causing a real impact to the audience - which it did. The film did have some slight issues though, such as questionable relevance of some of the scenes, as well as being very lengthy - 2 1/4 hours (which for some may not be a problem) and just generally shocking the audience - at points - to a level which I feel shouldn't have been used. But overall this film is an absolute masterpiece. Regardless of whether you like film or not, I would highly recommend going to watch this film or buying the DVD because after seeing it, I can honestly say that many of the scenes and themes in that film will stick with me for a long time.

As if I've made you read enough already with a side note eh?! I would like to add in a comment about the ending of the film though, not as part of the review but my thoughts. I feel that the inclusion of real life scenes of racist marches from America recently (accompanied by dates and locations), the David Duke speeches and the videos of Donald Trump speaking about these were so heavy hitting. After watching a film about a racist struggle, many people still believe that it is a thing of the past, but the ending clearly showed that it is not. Which is really horrible and saddening to see really. The inclusion of the American flag for a few seconds, then turning black and white to show respect to the fallen brothers and sisters and then turning upside down to show distress really personifies the struggle and issues that we still face in this world today. It was a really powerful ending and the pain and sadness showed by the real life people when cars crashed into groups of people put the film into a real life perspective and real world context. It was an amazing end to an amazing film.

Thank you for reading my review, I hope you enjoyed reading it as much as I did watching the film writing this, even if the word count rivals that of the old testament! Have a lovely day, I will be away for a week so unfortunately, I will be unable to write any reviews for a week. Feel free to keep sharing my site around and getting in touch with me, I love seeing your messages. :)