The Klan of Idiots

Rating: 8/10 (17 February 2019)

Spike Lee's biggest release since "Inside Man," "BlackkKlansman" is a low-key, undercover crime satire that defies credibility about a black Colorado Springs detective who subverted the local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan. Although Ron Stallworth (John David Washington of "Book of Eli") infiltrated the KKK, he had to arrange for one of his white police colleagues, Flip Zimmerman (Adam Driver of "Lucky Logan"), to conduct all the personal, face-to-face, activities. Obviously, Ron couldn't masquerade in white-face and hope to pull this stunt off without getting lynched. Nothing about what Ron Stallworth achieved during his undercover activities amounted to anything spectacular in the long run. Basically, it is low-stakes all the way. However, the fact that Stallworth could dupe Grand Wizard David Duke and make asses out of the Klan distinguishes this routine, but entertaining yarn. Lee generates a modicum of suspense along the way when Flip must defuse a potential disaster after a KKK bomb specialist, Walker (Nicholas Turturro of "Takers"), who he had arrested and who now plans to blow Flip's cover. Ultimately, two major things occur in this . First, David Duke (Topher Grace of "Spider-Man 3") converses with Ron via telephone and assures him that he sounds like a white man because he can pronounce the verb 'are.' Duke explains that African-Americans pronounce 'are' as 'are-uh.' During this explanation, Stallworth's superior, Sergeant Trapp (Ken Garito of "Summer of Sam"), has to turn away because he has to laugh out loud. The hilarity that comes out of this is contagious as Duke genuinely believes that Ron is white. The more serious action concerns a bomb plot. Felix's devoted wife, Connie (Ashlie Atkinson of "Bridge of Spies"), plants an explosive package containing C-4 on the Volkswagen car of African-American activist, Patrice Dumas (Laura Harrier of "Spider-Man: Homecoming"), when her original target is aborted. Atkinson delivers the best performance as the sincere Klansman's wife. Indeed, she looks and behaves like simple-minded, white-trash, but she emerges as the most believable character. Spike Lee and freshman scenarists Charlie Wachtel and David Rabinowitz, with Kevin Willmott of "Chi-Raq" have a field day making the KKK look like clowns. The audacity of Ron Stallworth and the success of his operation highlight this movie. Ironically, after Stallworth wraps up his investigation with the arrest of Connie, Captain Bridges (John Lee Burke of "Tombstone") pulls the plug on it owing to a shortage of funds. He orders everybody to destroy all records of the investigation. "BlackkKlansman" is well-worth watching not only as a chapter in race relations in contemporary America, but also a depiction of the buffoonish KKK. Lee caps all these lightweight shenanigans with documentary footage of the tragic The Charlottesville, Virginia, "Unite the Right" rally (Aug. 2017) where the white supremacists killed a liberal activist Heather Heyer and injuring almost 40 other people. This tacked on ending is probably the most devastating thing about "BlackkKlansman." The film was adapted from Ron Stallworth's book. Incidentally, not everything is either true or accurate. For example, Lee and his scenarists set the film in 1972 instead of when it really occurred in 1979. The comedy is fine until the disturbing epilogue that shows how dangerous the idiotic Klan and other white supremacists are.