Topical to the extreme

Rating: Null/10 (11 October 2018)

Based on police officer Ron Stallworth, played by John David Washington, the first black officer to serve in Colorado Springs, and his successful attempt to infiltrate the ranks of Ku Klux Klan. Helmed by the legendary Spike Lee.
As you'd expect, the questions and themes concerning race and race relations are heavily featured. The films speaks for unity and peace, but it's also a cautionary tale about hate and intolerance. The ugliest performances are of course given by the Klan members, but the film does show that the other side had advocates for violence as well. Which is of course natural. We're all human, after all.
And speaking of ugly performances, I have to raise my hat for these actors. Washington, and Adam Driver as Detective Flip Zimmerman, play the two officers doing the infiltration, and they're wonderful, but I can only imagine what it must been like for Topher Grace and Jasper Pääkkönen playing the roles of David Duke , the grand wizard of KKK, and Felix, a psychotic Klan member, respectively. Pääkkönen especially has some truly haunting scenes where he has to spout the most vitriolic, hate-filled, blood mad filth imaginable. Scary performance, I have to admit.
Aside from that the film is very solid on the technical side of things, has a sense of humour and is all around well-told. I did feel that the last act was perhaps a bit more outlandish than it necessarily needed to be. I get that the director wanted a big finale and to raise the stakes, but I wonder whether the focus should have been maintained on the actual issues, which are still ongoing even in today's world. The last minutes focus on those modern day issues, which was a nice finishing touch, but still.
Nevertheless, a very good film. It should fill us with shame that such a world of hatred and intolerance still has a place in this day and age. And if this film opens the eyes of even one of its viewers, its existence has been justified.