Spike Lee's Great Epic

Rating: 9/10 (9 March 2006)

Spike Lee is an uneven filmmaker: some of his films are great, some are, well, not. This is one of the great ones, probably the greatest.
The performances in this movie are tremendous, led by Denzel Washington. What makes his achievement particularly impressive is that he essentially has to play two completely different characters. First, Malcolm Little, the fast-talking petty thief and hustler who travels back and forth from Boston to New York. And second, Malcolm X, the serious (but human) preacher and public face for the Nation of Islam. Both are utterly believable and essential for the success of the film. Secondary parts are also uniformly excellent.
The story of the film is very detailed. The movie follows the Alex Haley book pretty faithfully. Sure, there are a few things added to move things along. For instance, Malcolm's conversion in prison wasn't quite as dramatic as portrayed in the film (he had originally heard about Islam in letters from his family in Michigan, for instance). But by and large it was pretty close to the book. Perhaps even too faithful, considering that the movie clocks in at over 3 hours long. I think there may have been some things he could have taken out.
Malcolm X was a complex man. For good or ill, Malcolm X was not someone to do things with a partial effort. When he was a criminal, he was a determined, almost crazy criminal. When he converted to Elijah Muhammed's Nation of Islam, he believed in his heart and soul in that, and preached the NOI party line even though he himself was obviously a natural leader. When Elijah Muhammed betrayed him, he became a more orthodox Muslim and preached that with equal vigor. Hate him or love him (and over the years, he said many things which deservedly were met with scorn by blacks and whites alike), he was a force to be reckoned with, and this film does an admirable job of bringing that out.