The real lead character here is The Mind of Spike Lee, the stream of pop imagery, wisecracks and Black Studies bullet points that excite him. Or the gross and juvenile The Black Klansman (1966), which begins with a young black girl being burned to death on the steps of a black church and continues with an unfortunate scene of a light-skinned African-American choking out a white woman while screaming, "White! He's Colorado Shaft. Spoilers for BlacKkKlansman follow. Movies get cheap when they go no further into character than a social media post. Beyond narrative, Lee's film is a masterclass in emotional contrast: it's highly comedic yet underpinned by racial hate; it's an enclosed tale, but one with far-reaching consequences. I'm already over word count, but before we talk about the finale, I want to ask you if you think maybe the way we read BlacKkKlansman as a narrative/character-grounded drama first and then an essay...is that just a matter of our expecting one thing and getting another? The film contains tons of tongue-in-cheek references to our present-day politics. Archived [BlacKkKlansman] The ending and Flip (spoilers) FanTheory spoiler. Kwame Ture's speech at the Black Student Union hall becomes a study of the faces in the crowd, gazing up in rage, inspiration and sorrow under a pearly toplight that resembles countless Black Is Beautiful '70's advertising photos. Is Zimmerman supposed to be similar to the Republican voters who ask us to stop lumping them in with the alt-right and Neo-Nazis? So, to start: How well does this film work as a fictional representation of history that's a political statement, a feel-good entertainment and an effective piece of agitprop? The film then plays an extended epilogue that takes the Klan from the 1970s to the modern day, calling out the white supremacist riots in Charlottesville and President Donald Trump's handling of the situation. Throughout history, from slavery to Jim Crow to the election of Donald Trump, the role of white women and their complicity in the disenfranchisement of black people seems to be downplayed by history books and just common knowledge in general. Since Zimmerman is a fictional character filling in the unknown blanks of an actual cop who stood in for Stallworth, there was an opportunity to explore both what "privilege" of intellect and emotional intelligence (as opposed to mere flippant cracker-baiting) Stallworth had on the ball, along with what soul bruises Zimmerman might have been suffering, caught between two groups with entrenched assumptions about his "skin in the game," or lack thereof. BlacKkKlansman chronicles Ron Stallworth (John David Washington), a black detective who infiltrates the Ku Klux Klan with the assistance of a white Jewish detective, Flip Zimmerman (Adam Driver). It received the Grand Prix at the Cannes Film Festival, and has been hailed by friends and colleagues as his best in years. It’s scary until you realize it’s not that much different from things that we hear today. All names, trademarks and images are copyright their respective owners. Yes, viewers are aware that this is the actual Ku Klux Klan, but the film lets you giggle at them in the same way that Stallworth has a laughing fit when he gets one over on David Duke and company. in the 1920s, and was aptly called the Women of the KKK or the WKKK. BlackKKlansman ending (Spoilers) spoiler. Search your review aggregator of choice — Twitter, for me — and you'll soon see that some variation of this sentiments is fairly popular. And most scenes with Connie Kendrickson (Ashlie Atkinson), the vociferously bigoted wife of Klansman Felix Kendrickson (Jasper Paakkonen), who is also presumably trying to pass whenever she insinuates herself into Felix's Klan-related plans. About Our Ads Like the film itself, the character of Connie is a reflection of our past and our present. Affiliate links used when available. It's a struggle that has a superficially disturbing, but essentially un-introspective (extrospective?) There are spoilers ahead. Compared to these films, BlacKkKlansman feels like a vital corrective. That's touching. During its Cannes Film Festival world premiere (where it won the Grand Prix award), the film received a lengthy standing ovation, specifically due to the chilling final moments of the film, which incorporates footage from the 2017 Charlottesville counter-protest to a white supremacist rally, where Heather Heyer was killed. Ron races there, but is accosted by cops unaware he's undercover. Privacy Policy / Cookie Policy. Steven Boone, Outside Man: "How well does this film work as a fictional representation of history that's a political statement, a feel-good entertainment and an effective piece of agitprop?".