In the fall of 1978, eager to make a name for himself, Colorado Springs police office Ron Stallworth approached his superiors with the idea of infiltrating the local Ku Klux Klan chapter in order to more closely monitor their plans and activities. This was significant and of concern to his captain for two reasons – Stallworth, at 24 years old, had only been on the force for three years and he was African-American. That the officer’s boss allowed him to go ahead with this idea is remarkable in itself. The twists and turns that resulted from this investigation are something else all together.
Spike Lee’s BlacKkKlansman recounts Stallworth’s story and, for the most part, adheres to the truth. To be sure, it’s a fascinating tale, and its power comes from the fact that it shows that while we may have made some small steps towards better race relations in the past 40 years, much of that has been erased by our current climate of ignorance and intolerance. In fact, the film is at its most powerful during its last five minutes when Lee uses documentary footage of the tragedy that occurred in 2017 in Charlottesville, Virginia, in which a race riot erupted, leaving Civil Rights activist Heather Heyer dead. The fact that the efforts of Stallworth and others have gone for naught over the ensuing years is underscored to powerful effect.
As for Stallworth’s story, Lee takes a relatively standard approach, taking a bit too much time in doing so. As the zealous officer, John David Washington inhabits the role with a sense of sincerity that engages us from the start. Responding on a whim to a KKK recruiting ad he spies in the newspapers, he calls to request more information and is contacted immediately by local member Felix Kendrickson (Jasper Paakkonen), who invites him to a watering hole outside town to meet the Colorado Springs chapter head Walter Breachway (Ryan Eggold). Needless to say this creates a problem, so Stallworth recruits fellow officer Flip Zimmerman (Adam Drive) to appear in his stead. Stallworth 2.0 is immediately accepted into the group, and the two officers begin a nine-month odyssey into the belly of the beast.
The movie’s second act is devoted to Zimmerman becoming more and more entrenched in this subculture, deftly skirting one tense situation after another as his true identity and Jewish heritage is constantly in danger of being exposed. Coupled with this is a subplot about a developing assassination plot, another thread in which Stallworth falls for activist Patrice Dumas (Laura Harrier), and his developing relationship with Klan leader David Duke (Topher Grace), all of which takes place over the phone until one fateful day.
While all of this is interesting, the film moves a bit too slowly at times and would have benefited from excising the romantic element, which is fictional. While Lee’s intent to honor these activists is admirable, the movie suffers a bit for it. That being said, all of the scenes involving Duke have a spark to them that reignites the film when it starts to lag. Kudos to Grace, who brings a smooth sense of charm and righteousness to the role that effectively underscores the inherent danger of this seemingly logical man. The actor is a revelation as he employs rationality and calm here that gets to the core of this insidious person.
Lee’s occasional heavy-handed approach is evident in a sequence in which Jerome Turner (Harry Belafonte) appears to recount a horrific lynching he witnessed as a child, the story cross-cut with a sequence showing Stallworth being officially inducted into the KKK. While his intent is admirable, the sequence is far too obvious and distracting.
Flawed yet vital, the release of BlacKkKlansman couldn’t be timelier. During its best moments, it puts the most misguided among us in the spotlight and shows them for the cowardly, ignorant, hateful fools that they are. For this alone, the film is necessary viewing, though it will surely be preaching to the choir.
Contact Chuck Koplinski at [email protected].
