A Bloated Biopic!

Rating: 7/10 (7 July 2019)

With Malcolm X, director/co-screenwriter Spike Lee has produced a true-to-life biopic on the title character who was first a strident advocate for the American Nation of Islam during the 1950's and early 60's, later becoming an extremely high profile human rights activist during the civil rights movement, before his assassination in 1965.
The film dramatises key events in Malcolm X's life with the main thread beginning with his post war criminal career and later conversion to Islam whilst in jail, which directly led to his assumption of the identity of Malcolm X . Defining childhood incidents, including his father's death, his mother's mental illness, and his experiences with racism are dramatised in (ironically) brief flashbacks, considering the elephantine length of the rest of the film.
From my understanding of the life of Malcolm X, Lee has stuck closely to the facts in constructing his biography. I believe there is only a limited amount of fictionalisation for artistic and dramatic licence. For that, I guess many will be grateful. Lee has also recreated the roughly two decades the film's story covers, extremely authentically. The sets and costuming are first class, with occasional pieces of newsreel footage and still photos supplementing that of his own filming. The performances are uniformly outstanding. Denzal Washington must have been desperately unlucky to miss out on the 1992 Academy Award for his powerful, central portrayal of the conspicuously, hard-nosed and divisive X.
For me though at 202 long minutes, this film is too dragged out and warranted tighter editing. The first act focusing on his early life of crime in Harlem and later Boston is for instance, needlessly protracted with interesting, but ultimately quite unimportant night club dancing and musical interludes. Could it possibly be that its prolonged appearance is due to Spike Lee himself, appearing in this section as a supporting character?
Malcolm X is a technically well-made, obvious labour of love for Lee, but I think it may have reached wider audiences if edited to a more manageable, less indulgent length.