Uncompromising

Rating: Null/10 (30 November 2001)

I turned this film on accidentally last night, and just left it on screen while I found something better to watch. An hour and a half later I still hadn't turned it off. Utterly engaging central performance by Washington.
At first (once Malcolm X gets to prison and meets Brother Baines) one is impressed by the power of the arguments used, and the value of truly understanding the history of black repression. Your heart goes out to Malcolm because of what he is trying to achieve, which is that the African Americans take control of their own destiny and make their own prosperity, by eschewing crime and drugs and all the other easy escapes, and instead to promote a moral life of education and achievement. Then, gradually, almost without you noticing it, the other aspects of Malcolm X's views come out: the sexism, the Anti-Semitism, the segregationism. This is what I meant by my subtitle. This film does not compromise in its portrait of a figure it admires - it does not sweep the uncomfortable facts under the carpet. I also like the way the film sees everything from X's viewpoint. We don't find out about Elijah Muhammed's shenanigans until Malcolm X does, and there is only the slightest hint that the NoI leadership had turned against X before he finds out the full shocking truth.
If Spike Lee has a fault, however, it is in not allowing powerful images to speak for themselves. The demonstration outside the police station comes to an abrupt end when X raises his hand and points: everyone shuts up and quietly shuffles off. A brilliant scene with an unmistakable message. So unmistakable, in fact, that the police chief, Peter Boyle repeats it for our benefit: "That's too much power for one man to have." Hey, Spike! Malcolm demonstrated the power of the masses, and his own power over them, in a brilliant, non-violent way. We got it!
Of course the most egregious example of this was the coda, which repeatedly told us that Malcolm X is a much-denigrated figure who nevertheless deserves our honour and respect. Well, why did Lee spend millions of dollars making a 3 hour film about him then? Did he suddenly lose all his confidence as a filmmaker? Did he think that, having sat through all three hours, we would still not quite understand whether Malcolm X was admirable or not? Hey, Spike! Anyone can put together a montage with an upright-sounding voiceover. Only Spike Lee can make "Malcolm X". You did a good job, leave it alone!