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Poster Description: (Left) John David Washington and (right) Adam Driver’s names are written in white on black above their respective actors, who fill both sides of the poster. Washington wears a brown leather jacket and holds black binoculars just under his bearded chin. Adam Driver wears a black and red plaid shirt with his arms folded. A white triangle, like a pointed hood, is in the middle. In black, it reads “INFILTRATE HATE. Based on a true story.” The film is “A SPIKE LEE joint,” and BlacKkKlansman is written in jagged black and white letters about the film crew’s names and release date. |
The phrase “based on a true story” frequents many films to the point where it loses all meaning. It is rare, then, to come across a bizarre story so hard to believe it has to be told. After producer Jordan Peele first pitched “Black man infiltrates Ku Klux Klan” to Spike Lee, assuring the story was authentic, Lee found the story too outrageous to ignore.
I saw BlacKkKlansman after I read Ron Stallworth’s
memoir on which it is based. As a British person, I admit I knew very little
about the KKK, apart from its racist beliefs. It could be said that it was
enough! Though I had never seen any of Spike Lee’s films, his reputation for
highlighting the experiences of black people preceded him. If anyone could
put BlacKkKlansman on screen, Lee was the right man for the job.
The Director: Spike Lee
The Cast:
John David Washington – Ron Stallworth
Adam Driver – Flip Zimmerman
Laura Harrier – Patrice Newman
Jasper Pääkkönen – Felix Kendrickson
Ashlie Atkinson – Connie Kendrickson
Paul Walter Hauser - Ivanhoe
Topher Grace – David Duke
Robert John Burke – Chief Bridges
Frederick Weller – Master Patrolman Andy
Michael Buscemi – Jimmy Creek
Corey Hawkins – Kwame Ture
Alec Baldwin – Dr. Kennebrew Beauregard
Certificate: 15
Released in UK cinemas: 24th August 2018
The Plot:
In the 1970s, Ron Stallworth (John David Washington) is one of few African Americans in the Colorado Springs police force. After a chance phone call, he successfully infiltrates the local Ku Klux Klan with Flip Zimmerman (Adam Driver) as his white surrogate.
The Review:
BlacKkKlansman begins with a white supremacist rehearsing a rousing speech. His name is Dr. Kennebrew Beauregard (played by Alec Baldwin, complete with loud vocal exercises). While it’s hard to say if Beauregard was a genuine person, the absurdity of the whole sequence openly mocks the “organisation’s” stalwart beliefs in “white purity.” Oh, yes, this is going to get weird – the film has its tongue wedged firmly in its cheek as it states that it’s “based on “some fo’ real, fo’ real s****” with a nod to black slang used around that time.
The costumes (designed by Marci Rodgers) and hair (created by LaWanda M. Pierre) appear painstakingly accurate to the period, showcasing character personalities. For example, John David Washington (Tenet – also the son of Denzel, the real Stallworth’s first choice to play him) is Stallworth, meticulous, dressed smartly, but his work gives him pride as a black man; his natural afro is trimmed to perfection. In contrast, Stallworth’s girlfriend, Patrice (Harrier, Spiderman: Homecoming), has an afro that is larger and more unruly, demonstrating her passion and ambition as a political activist. They meet at a local rally where civil rights leader Kwame Ture (Hawkins, Straight Outta Compton) speaks. The scene triumphs, capturing the power of his words, with the upturned faces of young black men and women moving in and out of the dim lighting of the room.
Ron and Patrice’s romance feels a little unnecessary, significantly as she is fictionalised, though both characters’ social-political discussions remain poignant today. Moreover, Patrice is the face of black anger, dare I say the victim of white power, in a harrowing cut-scene where she is assaulted by a white police officer for…no reason at all. Because he can.
When Stallworth faces the mistreatment of one of his white colleagues, he drop-elbows the desk in restrained frustration as soon as they walk away. Those who have read his memoir will know Stallworth did, in fact, know karate, but it comes out of the blue here. For some reason, Washington didn’t get nominated for an Oscar or a BAFTA for his role; given that he carries most of the film, it is a shameful oversight.
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Image Description: Zimmerman (Driver) and Stallworth (Washington) stand back to back with their heads turned. Wearing a plaid shirt, Zimmerman holds a red KKK membership card up towards the camera, which Stallworth looks at over his shoulder. He wears a mustard shirt. A corkboard covered in labelled photographs and maps is behind them. |
Adam Driver, on the other hand, was nominated for Best Supporting Actor as Flip Zimmerman. His character is also a genuine person, a non-practising Jew who begrudgingly agreed to “play” Ron when he met KKK members in person. One of them is Felix (played with chilling zeal by Jasper Pääkkönen), a paranoid redneck with a lie detector in his basement. Driver’s performance is dryly unflappable with these extremists, partaking in the superfluous KKK’s induction ceremony like something from the Middle Ages – that is until they start chanting “America First!” It’s juxtaposed by a powerful cut-scene of a group of young black people listening to an old man recounting the tragic murder of Jesse Washington.
BlacKkKlansman hovers between comedy and horror in a way I have never seen on film before. The plot is absurd enough to laugh at, and the racists are ludicrous in their beliefs, cheering during The Birth of a Nation (an actual pro-KKK film released in 1915) like children at a pantomime. However, there is a sick feeling in your stomach – this really happened; some of these people still exist. David Duke (played by Topher Grace) was a real-life Grand Wizard of the KKK who spoke to Stallworth on the phone, none the wiser. He is unsurprisingly ridiculed in the film, with Stallworth finally revealing his true identity for the sake of wishful catharsis. In reality, Duke didn’t find out who the real Stallworth was until 2006, and he features in actual news footage of a Charlottesville rally coming up against white supremacists in 2017. Lee dedicated his film to an anti-fascist protester, Heather Heyer, tragically killed in the car attack.
Released at the “right” time when right-wing beliefs were on the rise, BlacKkKlansman reminds us of how things were and how little things have changed since the 1970s – that’s a hard reality to swallow, and the film is blunt about it. Though small decisions to ignore the truth are somewhat grating for the sake of a few uncomfortable laughs and catharsis. BlacKkKlansman is a powerful story that demands to be known. To say I’m glad I watched it is an understatement.
The Verdict: 4 STARS OUT OF 5
My Sources:
https://www.universalpictures.co.uk/micro/blackkklansman - BlacKkKlansman poster
https://www.screendaily.com/features/blackkklansman-producers-on-pitching-spike-lee-and-the-films-lasting-impact-/5136976.article - Yes, the story is real!
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt7349662/trivia/?ref_=tt_trv_trv – How Spike Lee heard about Ron Stallworth’s story. Did Lee win any awards for BlacKkKlansman?
https://slate.com/culture/2018/08/whats-fact-and-whats-fiction-in-blackkklansman.html - Fact and Fiction
https://fashionista.com/2018/08/blackkklansman-movie-costumes - BlacKkKlansman costumes and their significance
https://www.goldderby.com/article/2018/lawanda-m-pierre-blackkklansman-hairstylist-interview-news-735146802/ - Who was the hair stylist for BlacKkKlansman?
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Corey_Hawkins#Filmography – Who else has Corey Hawkins played?
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm0913475/awards - Did John David Washington win any awards for his role?
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/general-news/why-blackkklansman-ending-is-more-controversial-expected-1134180/ - Zimmerman and Stallworth (image)
https://ew.com/oscars/2019/01/23/adam-driver-blackkklansman-oscars-best-supporting-actor-nomination/ - Adam Driver’s Oscar nomination
https://www.britannica.com/topic/The-Birth-of-a-Nation - When was The Birth of a Nation made?
https://www.bustle.com/p/jesse-washington-was-a-real-person-blackkklansman-brings-his-horrific-story-to-light-10041824 - Who was Jesse Washington?
https://www.cinemablend.com/news/2456171/why-spike-lee-dedicated-blakkklansman-to-charlottesville-victim-heather-heyer - Who did Spike Lee dedicate his film to?
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