BlacKkKlansman

100 Movies in 100 Days
Movie 17 Day 17
BlacKkKlansman

Post Academy Awards I was dying to see BlacKkKlansman. I was so happy to hear Spike Lee finally won his Oscar. It really has been a long time coming. I have not seen a ton of Spike Lee's films. I've seen a few and he has a beautiful cinematic eye. I was intrigued by BlacKkKlansman, a true story about a black man infiltrating the KKK in the 70's?! What?!?! I mean how the heck did that happen. Once again proving that real life is incredibly interesting and ironic.

As I've said, BlacKkKlansman is a film starring John David Washington as Ron Stallworth. Ron is the first African American on the Colorado Springs police force. He desperately wants to make detective and when given the opportunity, he shines. One day he takes it upon himself to try and infiltrate the KKK and it works! They want to meet Ron but he's obviously black and that won't fly. So Detective Flip Zimmerman, played by Adam Driver, steps in to be Ron in person at the KKK meetings. Topher Grace plays Grand Wizard David Duke, I can't imagine that was easy. The film is unafraid to ask the hard questions and hold a mirror up to current events in the US.

Amazing performances from Adam Driver and John David Washington. There is an emotional scene where Flip, pretending to be Ron, has to stand in front of David Duke and deny he is Jewish. Driver is brilliant in this scene. You can feel his emotional torment deny who he truly is. I see why he was nominated for an Oscar. Driver's performance has so many layers to it. You can see the pain Flip has pretending to hate people of color. Saying horrible words, names and shaking hands with these hateful people. I know I would never be able to do it.

This film is surprisingly funny, now don't get me wrong, it's very serious but it also makes fun of itself. It's not afraid to make fun of people. The humor is what gave the film balance. It's so difficult to sit through some of the horrible things said in the film. The laughter helped break it up. We are relieved to laugh just after we've cried. It takes the brilliance of Spike Lee to pull off that balance.

BlacKkKlansman is an incredibly insightful and a terrifying film...I say terrifying because there are so many parallels with today. We want to act like we've come so far from the 70's but the reality is, we still have so many hateful people voicing their ignorance towards people of color and minorities. It made me feel physically ill hearing some of the KKK chants in the film. At one point, the KKK chant make America great and I felt like I was punched in the gut. Spike Lee is unafraid to make you feel uncomfortable. We need to take a long, hard look at our country and speak for those who can not. Speak for those who have no voice and speak for those that have passed but who fought. Honor those who have fallen and use our voice to make sure it doesn't happen again.

Spike Lee connected the ending with the marches in Virginia in 2017. If you don't remember, a group of KKK supported student marched and chanted horrible hateful thing. The following week was filled with violence as protesters showed up. A young woman was killed at a peace rally when a car drove into a crowd of people. It reminds the audience how far we really have to go. A good film makes you think and BlacKkKlansman does just that. Please see this film, it's important and insightful.