Review of Malcolm X (1992) by Eric S — 25 Sep 2010

I have heard detractors of this film who have called it "black racist propaganda". Who have called it "a concoction of lies and half-truths". Who have called it "shoddy filmmaking". Who have called it "lacking in impartiality at best, and dangerous to people's perception of race relations at worst".

I'm sure the real Malcolm X might have deemed such reviews compliments.

This is a story about a man who was raised in a more racist society than we as a modern society can even imagine: The lynchings (or attempted lynchings), the violence, the rapes, the dehumanizing words, piss-poor education, job discrimination, inability to vote, negative stereotyping in media, etc., etc., etc. This is a story about a man whose house was burned down by the Klan, and whose father was murdered by the Klan (I know it's implied, but under the circumstances, I don't doubt that's what actually happened for one second). This is a story about a man whose mother had several children to take care of with very little life insurance to help her because the agency deemed her husband's death a suicide in spite of the evidence to the contrary, and had every last child taken from her and placed in even worse conditions in a foster care system that did not care one bit for them while she herself was locked up in a mental institute for 26 years. This is a story about a man whose grades were stellar but who was forced to work onboard a train as a servant, as a criminal on the side, and was told he should find work as a carpenter rather than a lawyer because that was "no realistic career goal for a n****r." This is a story about a man who walked on eggshells daily while in a relationship with a white woman for fear of her calling it rape and resulting in him being sent to jail or worse. This is a story about a man who didn't even consider himself a man, let alone be considered one by society.

In my response to the detractors' reasons for detracting this film, OF COURSE it's going to be biased! It's Malcolm X's story.

It's his point of view, and that point of view was always changing. He went from a bright-eyed pupil to a hedonistic and possibly nihilistic criminal. He went from an apathetic prisoner to a spiritually awakened convert and one firebrand of a spokesman. He went from blind follower of Elijah Muhammed to a more secularly open political activist.

It may be biased, but at least it's honest about its bias, as Malcolm X was. He called the white man a devil more times than I can count, yes, but I doubt he embellished or made up atrocities committed by white people. He didn't cast himself as a saint either, even towards the end of his life.

From the get-go, this was a powerful in-your-face film, made so by an electrifying delivery of "The Trial" by Denzel Washington during the opening credits, where he charges the white race for its many crimes, intercut with clips from George Holliday's footage of Rodney King being beaten by police. It's harsh, uncompromising, and bold.

Every actor and actress brought their A-game, even Spike Lee and Peter Boyle in their small cameos and especially Angela Bassett as Betty X, a strong portrayal of a black woman in both a racist society and as a member of a fairly sexist organization. The story moved along quite smoothly in detailing this man's evolution and triumph not only over an oppressive society but his own oppressed and oppressive state of mind. Emancipating himself from mental slavery, as Bob Marley would put it.