superior craftsmanship, Washington's performance, and a sobering mixture of history and drama

Rating: 10/10 (30 July 2008)

Malcolm X is many things to many people, but one can never say he didn't make a significant mark on his time and for 'his' people, as he and the Nation of Islam defined it. But 'his' was contingent on his religion, his experience growing up and being an 'Afro-American' in the United States, and as it turned out it was not set in stone. What Spike Lee's film does so compellingly is shine light on the history of the man and his place in a country with one of the most disturbing, racist histories in the world, and not make it too dogmatic or beyond reproach. On the contrary, this is one of Lee's most commercial works, made in epic form and imbued with his style at the top of his game. Only Do the Right Thing, in terms of his non-documentary features, tops this for sheer directorial virtuosity and intelligence with the subject matter.
How much it sticks true to the autobiography of Malcolm X (as told to Alex Haley) I can't say yet, having not read the book. But for what it's worth, on its own terms, Lee crafts his story with the grandiosity appropriate to the character and the circumstances. Malcolm (Washington) is born to a religious man, but one who's killed by white people. He's denied his dream of being a lawyer and forced into labor. He becomes a criminal and is sentenced to 10 years for multiple counts of theft. And then in prison is changed around by Baines (Albert Hall), who converts him to the Nation of Islam and its teachings. It's mind-opening because, for the first time for him, his perception comes clearer than ever regarding the black experience- and what are really their rights, which have been few since the abolishment of slavery- and he becomes the big cultural figure he's remembered as.
Even if one doesn't agree with all of the philosophy and speeches from Malcolm- and it's not hard to see why Malcolm had so many enemies, even from his own fold- it absorbs one not terribly familiar with what he was about in thought and practice and deed, and it gets the audience thinking one way or another about the nature of racism and race and separation in America. And past all that, it's directed with nerve and pizazz, while not going too far off into avant-garde. For all of Lee's success here as a storyteller, it wouldn't be quite the same without the star; oddly enough once he's off the screen- for the final ten minutes which becomes a long eulogy that drags on longer than necessary in nearing pomposity- it doesn't work as well. Every moment he's on camera, whether in the early years in Boston and Harlem as a thug or as X himself in full public figure mode on stage and behind closed doors, it's a reminder why he's the star he is. It's simply one of his very best performances, full of subtlety and wit and bigger-than-life bravura moments that usually (though not this time get Oscars.
It's a period piece, it's a history lesson, it's a biography, and a testament to the possibility for a person to change. But above all else, Malcolm X works as a movie, and it's watchable in that big-movie-event kind of way without the usual drawbacks.