Malcolm in the Shizzle

Rating: 7/10 (2 January 2013)

Before MLK, Before O, there was - X.
MALCOLM X. A black man fighting for the black man in a white man's world.
Denzel Washington is Malcolm Little (whom everyone calls "Red" for his conked red hair), a petty thief, cocaine addict, prostitute peddler, and all-round small-time gangsta before the term was invented. During the War Years, Malcolm falls in with West Indian Archie (Delroy Lindo), plying his trade in Boston and New York, eventually being busted with his long-time friend and accomplice, Shorty (Spike Lee) and sent to jail.
In jail, about the time that Jackie Robinson made the major leagues in baseball, Malcolm Little becomes Malcolm X, to shuck off his "slave name." So begins the rise to power of one of America's great black leaders. But it is in jail that the movie MALCOLM X falters, as Malcolm's criminal outlook on life flip-flops to that of Islam, schooled by a pushy, annoying, racist fellow convict, Baines (Albert Hall).
Malcolm leaves prison as one of Islam's greatest exponents, an articulate, intelligent, outspoken community leader, preaching fire and damnation against the White Man, causing so much civil discomfort (even whilst awakening the self-respect of the black community) that it leads to his assassination by the Nation of Islam.
Proving my point about religious hypocrisy.
As I write this in 2009, there are "two" Americas - pre-Obama and post-Obama. Films like MALCOLM X created righteous outrage - but in a post-Obama world that outrage is obviously diluted. The Dream has been realized - where else is there to go for the Black Man? Yes, there will be racism - always. The human animal is built that way. But what more can be done or said than achieving the highest post in the world?
The point of films like X was to create righteous outrage so people would aspire to the goal of equality. To that point, X served its purpose bodaciously - in a pre-Obama world. In a post-Obama world, well, the struggle may not be over completely, but the "outrage" part surely must be. X opens with a burning American flag - power to the peeps an' all dat - but if you burn a flag NOW, isn't that just disrespect to the Black Man? Who happens to also be THE Man?
Spike Lee directs MALCOLM X from The Autobiography of Malcolm X, as told to Alex Haley. Though it is not Lee's fault, Malcolm's messages were garbled in religious hypocrisy and overt racism, and the messenger himself precluded this movie becoming an epic due to his small-mindedness; due to not being King: He called the Kennedy assassination "justice... the chickens coming home to roost," saying it didn't make him sad, but glad. He called for "complete separation between the black race and the white race" and subscribed to juvenile mythologies like the Tribe of Shabazz, an ancient race of black kings and queens from whom the Caucasian race descended. (Nowhere nearly as sensible as the Tribe of David where an olive-skinned virgin gave birth to Jesus the Magic Caucasian and started a white race of Christians even though he was a Jew...)
Malcolm preaches, "The Honorable Elijah Muhammad teaches us the white man is the devil." He doesn't say "some white men" - he says ALL white men are devils. These are the lessons he learns from that idiot Baines in jail. (I call him an idiot because religious fanaticism is a form of idiocy.) You could play a drinking game to this movie, on every time Malcolm X says, "The Honorable Elijah Muhammad" and by the end of the movie, you'll be drunk enough to convert to the Nation of Islam.
The Honorable Elijah Muhammad, though treated like a deity, was a flesh-and-blood guy, supposedly the apex of spirituality, his exact words: "I have built this nation under the divine guidance of Allah" - but the old Honorable Elijah Muhammad turns out not so honorable when news is leaked of two teenage girls who have sired children through his heavenly sperm. Malcolm meets with the girls, learns the pornographic truth, and is so disappointed in the Honorable Elijah Muhammad that he splits with the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. (Jesus in Purgatory! Now he's got ME doing it!)
Malcolm X was a fiery political leader - Denzel's sexuality and charisma are tuned to breaking point on the podium, a perfect role for a perfect black panther - but it's unfortunate he had to resort to the crutch of religion to unite people. After he splits with the Honorabl--yeh, that guy, he has to maintain that his words are now not the Honora-- geez, there's no escaping this guy-- and that his words are his own. Why couldn't he do that from the start? Was Malcolm that weak-minded he needed to lean on the platitudes of a philandering old goat to unite people under a false aegis?
Spike Lee's movie-making is stupendous, Denzel's performance, electric. Malcolm X was charisma and brimstone and an inspiration for the black movement. But his message of Islam was plain stupid. I don't take away from the man - he is greater than I will ever be - but the delusion of religion obfuscated his underlying messages and this movie is shot through the prism of Malcolm's religious journey, which weakens the movie.
Malcolm X was assassinated on February 21, 1965, in Manhattan's Audubon Ballroom the same faction who called him a religious hypocrite for splitting from them, The Nation of Islam "under the divine guidance of Allah." Need I say more about religious hypocrisy, the godlike manner in which they silenced him, or the Honorable Elijah Muhammad? A messianic eulogy ends this powerful film. But it's too late. I'm already drunk.
--Poffy The Cucumber