We started this fire

Rating: 10/10 (19 February 2012)

The Civil Rights movement was such a broad area in history, and with the countless number of events that took place, such as the Montgomery bus boycott, the Freedom Rides, and the sit ins, it's a wonder why we haven't been bombarded with films focusing on those events. I have no doubt that one movie could possibly focus on everything that happened in the Civil Rights era, but I doubt it could do a very good job. Spike Lee has chosen one of the most unsung leaders of the movement, and has constructed, from the ground up, a film over three hours in length on him showing his humble beginnings, his rise to power, his self-assessment, and his tragic death.
The leader is Malcolm X. But before he was an historical figure, he was Malcolm Little, a small-time thief who would concoct schemes to steal money with his best friend, Shorty. He was a smart boy, with a preacher for a father and a white woman for a mother. Despite being very smart, he was ostracized by white teachers who said that his dreams of becoming a lawyer wouldn't happen and that he should stick to "working with his hands." Little's adolescence consisted of running around with white girls and devising burglaries with them and Shorty. This streak didn't last long, with Little and Shorty being arrested and sentenced to eight years in prison. Without a doubt, prison benefited Little in unlikely ways. He was taught the ways of Elijah Muhammad, the leader of the Nation of Islam, and got help for his addiction to cocaine by a fellow inmate.
Muhammad's teachings eventually inspired Malcolm to become a motivational speaker, before becoming one of the many voices in the Civil Rights movement. He adopts the name "Malcolm X," he claims, because "X" in mathematics represents "the unknown." For a while, X preached the direct opposite from Martin Luther King Jr. King believed in integration, that would hopefully result from a nonviolent practice. X thought integrating with "the enemy" was not intelligent, and questioned why would we want to integrate with a group that has subtracted our rights, raped our women, and has dehumanized us? For a while, the only thing X said he liked integrated was "his coffee." I tried to put myself in the shoes of a middle aged African American, living in the south, in the 1960's, and contemplated who I, myself, would've sided with. King would probably have been the initial person I would've sided with, but after many months that proved little to no success, I would've likely started to follow X and his teachings of self defense and segregation.
The entire film is marvelous in every sense of the word. Spike Lee has proved himself to be one of America's greatest directors with one stellar drama after another, focusing mainly on racial tensions. Here, he brilliantly documents an underrated leader whose philosophy may have been sketchy, but wrote speeches that were undeniably powerful.
X is portrayed by Denzel Washington, who utters every line with sophistication and always occupies a convincing state. The whole tone of the film can be summed up in one scene that comes rather late in the film. It shows Malcolm X walking up the stairs to Columbia University, where he is stopped by a white woman asking what she could do to further his movement. He coldly replies "nothing" before marching on his way. The camera is left focusing on the frozen, heartbroken woman. The great thing about a scene like this is that it wasn't motivated by a comic relief. Lee adds hints of comedy throughout the film, but not many seeing as this is a touchy subject. He feels he should attack it with brutal honesty rather than turn the whole movement into a laugh riot. Other performances, like Angela Bassett as Malcolm's wife, and Al Freeman Jr. as Elijah Muhammad, provide the film with some of its strongest material as well.
I believe the reason the character of Malcolm X was so interesting is because he is capable of delivering self assessment and self criticism. Not many leaders are still developing their beliefs, but are rather wholly confident in what they preach. X finally realized he had flaws as a human, and went through a change of heart upon traveling to Mecca, an event that is captured beautifully in the film, and came back a whole different person. Instead of attacking Civil Rights leaders, mainly Martin Luther King Jr., and making them feel inferior, he agrees to work with them to pursue the dream of equality in the world.
Malcolm X is one of the most surreal and extensive biopics I have yet to see. Its script is extremely powerful, and refuses to become dry and noneventful. Lee's direction is pitch perfect, and the tone either feels coldly realistic or unsettling even in when it reaches its brightest instances. Just like the man himself, Lee's film has proved to go under the radar, not boasting a great deal on the surface. But when put into an intricate focus and dissected delicately, it is one of the best films that deals with racial tensions, next to De Niro's A Bronx Tale, and one of the smartest films of the nineties decade.
Starring: Denzel Washington, Angela Bassett, and Al Freeman Jr. Directed by: Spike Lee.