Go See BlacKkKlansman!
Saw this movie tonight with one of my best friends. I’m basically still stunned.
I’m hesitant to review it for fear of spoilers, so no details except to say that while both Adam Driver and John David Washington were superb (and yes, hot), there is so much going on subliminally and on the surface and the full impact didn’t hit me until the final minutes of the film, although I found myself flinching and uneasy throughout the film and picking up on different things. I’ll just tell you how it made me feel.
Spike Lee did something amazing with this film, and he got his powerful message across without resorting to theatrics or gore. I’m not a crier and I sat in the theater until the house lights came up, and I was sobbing by the end as it all hit. It’s a culmination of things, one being history, past and recent. If you live where I live, you may have felt like you’ve been wearing a muzzle on your true thoughts for the past couple years because you can’t tell what’s behind that mild mannered neighbor’s facade. So you bury yourself in something else and don’t talk about it. “It” means a lot of things in the news these days.
This movie manages to be light and funny most of the time while also reminding us of history, both in the distant past and recent past, and feeling unsettled about the future. Spike Lee never makes a movie that’s meant to leave you with warm fuzzies - his movies are meant to make you think and provoke a reaction while keeping you invested in the story.
I’d just advise you to really take in what you see and hear and don’t turn your eyes away (it won’t be gory, but there will be language, stories, and old photographs that can and should get under your skin, whatever tone your skin palette happens to be). Spike doesn’t make things up; he holds up a mirror.
I cried for probably 20 minutes with my friend through the closing credits and beyond, and we had one of the best talks ever. It was a relief to get out some of the anxiety I’ve had about the state of affairs in the world for some time and also the lessons of history and what has and hasn’t changed, my concern for the next generation of women growing up during these turbulent times because man’s inhumanity to man isn’t confined just to Jews or blacks - it’s gays, women, minorities, immigrants - and you can probably think of more.
Two girls to our right laughed at the part we laughed at, and we all turned to each other simultaneously and gave each others’ hands a squeeze because where I live, you don’t know who it’s safe to let your real feelings about current events show. It’s like a signal that lets you know you found a tribe member where you weren’t expecting it.
The movie is NOT a downer, but it may touch you on a deeper level than you expect. Go with a friend and have a discussion afterward. This is a movie that I hope starts a dialogue with everyone…particularly the country in which I reside.
