A confrontational and highly effective "Joint" by the veteran director

Rating: 9/10 (16 August 2018)

BlacKkKlansman is a biographical drama film co-written and directed by Spike Lee. Based on the non-fiction book "Black Klansman" by Ron Stallworth, it is a confrontational and highly effective "Joint" by the veteran director.
In 1972, Ron Stallworth (John David Washington) is hired as the first African-American detective at a Colorado Springs police department. Initially given menial tasks around the police station, John decides to branch out and requests to work as an undercover agent at a local Ku Klux Klan rally. Fully aware that the KKK would never accept a black man into their organisation, John suggests the idea of using his co-worker, white Jewish police officer Flip Zimmerman (Adam Driver), to pretend to be him when meeting with other Klan members in person, while still maintaining verbal contact over the phone.
As ingenious as it is aggressive, BlacKkKlansman is easily one of Spike Lee's best films in years and a solid commentary on society's views on racism in America. As to be expected, Lee does not hold back in showcasing the racial epithets and slang used against African Americans. However, he also chooses to juxtapose this with an extreme depiction of black nationalism in certain scenes, and this brings something of a balance to the overall story and makes it seem less biased. The acting between the two leads John David Washington (Denzel Washington's son) and Adam Driver is fantastic and it helps to make what may have been considered a farfetched plot had it not been a true story seem so believable. If one can stomach some of the more extreme scenes of racism and injustice, then this "Joint" is certainly worth the time to watch and discuss afterwards.
I rate it 8.5/10