MALCOLM X
A film review by David Gross
Copyright 1992 David Gross
Spike Lee has moved decisively from the ranks of "promising up-and- coming filmmaker" to "great filmmaker" with his terrific three-and-a- half-hour epic retelling of the Malcolm X story. This film demanded a scope and a gestalt far beyond anything Lee had attempted before -- and Lee has responded by reaching new heights in respectfully translating this myth to the screen.
Malcolm X was a human being, though his legend is so powerful and compelling that future generations will probably be skeptical and call his life fiction. Like a similar epic film, "Gandhi" (from which Lee almost certainly took some inspiration), "Malcolm X" had to be translated from an already powerful myth into a compelling film.
But a myth is more emotional than visual. To tell a myth with actors and film threatens to debase the spiritual, faith-like grandeur of the story and replace it with vulgar biography and journalism. Spike Lee's triumph (and his improvement over "Gandhi") is that he preserved both Malcolm the myth and Malcolm the man.
He has help from Denzel Washington, who plays Malcom X in the film. Washington plays a number of roles in the film -- Malcolm Little, drowning in the excesses of drugs and crime; Malcolm X, the upright disciple of Elijah Muhammad, converted in prison; and Malcolm, changed and enlightened after his pilgrimage to Mecca. Washington has the range to play all of these men within a man, and he shades the transitions between them with care. There are probably many academy awards in this film, but this actor has a lock on one.
What the critics and the press will be wagging their tongues about in the coming weeks will probably be Lee's Oliver Stone-like retelling of the assassination. The orthodox take on the killing is that Malcolm X was assassinated on the order of the Nation of Islam, a group which he had recently broken ties with and which was jealous of his influence and power. Spike Lee has included the U.S. government in the conspiracy -- a theory that is plausible, though it is a textbook violation of Occam's razor. All in all, this new theory constitutes an unnecessary distraction from the myth, and its inclusion was a temptation Lee should have fought.
Another point of interest is the cameo appearance by none other than Nelson Mandela (can you think of any other director with the international stature and respect it would take to get someone like Mandela to appear in their film?)
Also, the opening sequence, in which a burning American Flag alternates on the screen with scenes from the Rodney King beating will be seen by many as unnecessarily inflammatory. It is clearly Lee's attempt to make the case that the story of Malcolm X is current events -- not history -- and by this standard, the inclusion of the King beating footage is not only justified but necessary.
But the more important revelation about this film is that Spike Lee has clearly bought into the moderate line about Malcom X -- that his redemption as a hero came when he returned from his hajj filled with a new spirit of interracial brotherhood and respect, and conciliation with more moderate civil rights leaders. The Malcolm X who appears in posters and whose speeches are excerpted on rap albums is almost always the earlier, angrier, racist Malcolm X. The Malcolm that Lee sympathizes with is a Malcolm who has moved beyond this, demanding respect without lowering himself to racial hatred.
That this moderate version of the Malcolm X myth is the one that made it to the screen is the real news. In this video age, the Malcolm X myth fashioned by Spike Lee may well replace in importance the myth told to Alex Haley in THE AUTOBIOGRAPHY OF MALCOLM X.
And, aside from the cinematic triumph of Spike Lee, it is this fact that will be the legacy of MALCOLM X the film.
-- INTERNET: dgross@polyslo.csc.calpoly.EDU
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