Interesting and Disappointing...

Rating: 6/10 (25 November 2005)

First of all, I gotta say Denzel was awesome as Malcolm X. Before seeing this movie, I knew very little about Malcolm X. After watching it, it gave me a sense of how stupid smart people can actually be. While I think Malcolm X's intentions were for the best part good, there was too much hate in his soul to do any real good. And to me, this film portrays a prime example of how religion can fuel hate. That is surely what religion is NOT supposed to be about, but sadly, since the dawn of time, that has often been the outcome.
I think Malcolm X was an intelligent man, but easily led by his emotions and too quick to adapt to whatever religious quota fit his mood at the time. In a way, he was like a child; easily led, influenced. Looking for that religious "fix" to ease his tortured soul. And he never did find inner peace.
And Muslims, for being so pious, are the cause for most the murder and terrorism we have had through the ages in the name of Allah, and today it continues. That's screwed up. Always has been.
Martin Luther King, Jr. had it right, not X.
You can't achieve peace with hate in your heart. Just doesn't work, people. And that is what he did, or tried to do. In the end, he only damaged the cause for peace and desegregation. That point is proved in the end, when his own former advocates gunned him down.
Malcolm X's biggest legacy is Louis Farakan. A hate monger, pure and simple...not a holy man.
Well filmed, directed, but with the Spike Lee spin we've all grown to expect. In many ways, Spike adopts the same mindset as Malcolm X.
The best way to be free is to be free of hate, not the "White Devil".