Truth Scarier Than Fiction

Rating: 8/10 (28 May 2019)

Spike Lee connects his art to the racism in America. Blackkklansman makes no mystery that it is equal parts thesis and entertainment. While a real-life montage of the events in Charlottesville, VA caps the movie - at first heavy-handedly, it dawns on the viewer quickly that the visceral violence of it and the circus of responses by public figures are no less scary than the sentinal events of our previous century.
Before this sobering slap-in-the-face, however, enjoy the quirky and wonderful performances of John David Washington as Ron Stallwoth, the black Colorado Springs Officer who will infiltrate the "Organization" through ingenuity and serendipity, his solid, helpful partner played by the consistent Adam Driver, and almost unrecognizable Michael Buscemi, Topher Grace playing the ridiculous David Duke, and my surprise favorite: Jasper Paakkonen as a klansman. Paakonen doubles in real life as a world-renowned fly fisherman, conservationalist, and spokesperson for the outdoor company Patagonia - but you would never know it as he portrays one of the most uncomfortably villainous characters I have seen.