MALCOLM X
A film review by Raul Cairo
Copyright 1992 Raul Cairo
It is difficult to insult or even to belittle a director such as Spike Lee. It is also very difficult to talk negatively about what is the best film Spike has directed to date; however, Spike's latest attempt into the art of cinema is something less than is to be desired.
Spike is bringing to life the story of a man who was everything he wanted to be, but realized somewhere along his life that he did not know who he truly was. After seeing MALCOM X I felt like I had just ran a marathon rather than coming out from seeing a movie. The longest 3 hours and 22 minutes of my life occurred while I watched MALCOM X. I truly, truly, deep in my heart feel that this movie could have been great, just as long as this movie would be shorter.
The only big major flaw that this movie suffers from is that Spike Lee concentrated too long on Malcom's life before he started to preach the Muslim faith. Everyone knows the hard hitting speechs of Malcom and this movie should have concentrated just on his faith, his going into the Muslim faith and following the words of Elijah Muhhoamid, and then later being turned away.
To me personally the important aspects of the movie was everything that happened to Malcom after he comes out of jail, and it is there that the movie should have begun.
I don't wish to knock the directing, or even the acting. Denzel Washington gives the performance of his life, in what could be the most important role of his life, bringing the spirit of Malcom X back to life. And Spike Lee has definitely poured his heart and soul into this project, however the one mistake he made was to drag out this life story, as well as drag out this film. But if one thing you can definitely realize with this film is that Spike Lee has such an admiration for this guy, that he was capable enough to go to the limits in making this film and for that I do commend him. In short, on a scale of 1 to 10 I would have to give it a 6 for the fabulous directing, and for Washington's perfect portrayal of the civil rights activist. But this is fair warning if you are easily bored or even twitchy while you watch a film, you should really think twice before you go and see this film.
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