Tremendous, brutal, funny, gripping

Rating: 9/10 (13 August 2018)

I had no expectations of this other than it has been getting mad props from my friends all over America who've already seen it in the past few days since it opened.
The gist of the story is a singular black cop on the otherwise all-white Colorado Springs police force who on a wild impulse decides to interact with the KKK. Because he is young and impulsive, he dials the KKK directly and uses his real name. Because a black man would not be able to fit in, he enlists the help of a white cop for in-person interactions, but keeps his phone interactions, especially with David Duke. (Yes, THE David Duke.) One thing leads to another, and the KKK thugs in Colorado Springs are broken apart--but his work is shredded and the police department decide to pretend nothing happened at all.
All this is most wonderful, especially the final scene in the first part, which is a final phone call between the black cop and David Duke. The audience broke up shouting and laughing at this, and it was emotionally satisfying.
But the movie isn't over.
This final scene is followed by intercuts of recent actions in today's America, and the mood of the audience--and myself--changed to one of sober reflection and emotional distress. In summary: nothing much has changed, and even the heroism of many people has done almost nothing to affect the rise of Naziism and fascism and race-hatred in America.
With all that said --
The movie is very well constructed, and feels very late-70s. I enjoyed seeing and hearing the lives of people living in that time--costumes and sets and dialog were pretty much spot on. The entire premise was believable even though the story comes about because an eager black cop decides to take on the KKK and then finds he can't get by without the help of his friends.
The movie would be one, complete thing had it ended at the phone scene--and yet the movie would not be complete without the codicil that confronts us with our world of today, where the KKK and Nazis and fascists and white nationalists and alt-rightist are sometimes clowning--but are becoming more and more bold and more and more invasive and more and more successful.
Charlottesville happened not just because people don't stand against Nazis at all levels, from the farm house to the White House, but because too many people feel "it just can't happen here."
Good work, Mr. Lee and others.