a BLACKkKLANSMAN musing

I’m not well versed in the stylings and films of Spike Lee, having only seen a grand total of three (INSIDE MAN, OLDBOY and now KLANSMAN). His latest is, from what I gather, the next in his long line of exuberant, fiercely piercing racially spurred films. BLACKKKLANSMAN turns out to be more scary than funny at times, but endlessly enthralling.

The premise is pretty crazy, as the real son of Denzel Washington, John David Washington, plays Ron Stallworth, who infiltrated the KKK, while another detective, played by Adam Driver, is the in-person Ron when he meets with the KKK. This all is inherently enthralling, since we’re trying to clue in on when exactly they’re going to uncover the ruse. It’s great drama, while Ron gets entangled with a woman in the local Black Student Union (Laura Harrier). Most of their scenes are a bit clunky, but it didn’t take away from the experience.

The characters in Colorado Springs laugh off the KKK and the new chapter they’re trying to establish, and Lee tries to hammer the point in that not taking them seriously can lead to them growing in power in the shadows. Lee parallels the story to the events of today, culminating in a powerful, haunting reminder of the everlasting and institutional racism present in the country. At times, the dialogue gets too on the nose about its parallels, and annoying to the point where I got tired of it; the subtext became text, but I get the feeling Spike Lee is deliberately doing that.

RATING: BEST OF THE BEST

(Refer to my rating system HERE!)