Review #1643: Malcolm X.
Cast:
Denzel Washington (Malcolm X),
Angela Bassett (Betty Shabazz),
Albert Hall (Baines), Al Freeman Jr. (Elijah Muhammad),
Delroy Lindo (West Indian Archie), Spike Lee (Shorty), Theresa Randle (Laura), Kate Vernon (Sophia), with Lonette McKee (Louise Little), Tommy Hollis (Earl Little), James McDaniel (Brother Earl), Ernest Thomas (Sidney), Jean-Claude La Marre (Benjamin 2X), and
Christopher Plummer (Chaplain Gill) Directed by Spike Lee (#1255 -
Do the Right Thing, and #1543 -
Inside Man)
Review:
"We declare our right on this earth to be a man, to be a human being, to be respected as a human being, to be given the rights of a human being in this society, on this earth, in this day, which we intend to bring into existence by any means necessary.”
When it comes to biographical epics, the best of those type of films are the ones that have plenty of challenge to overcome to portray a human being with the right amount of detail and understanding required that will pack as much insight as it does interest in a depiction that will stand just as well as any documentary or book. This is more than necessary when it comes to the subject of Malcolm X, this much is true. It started with The Autobiography of Malcolm X (1965), which was a collaboration between X and journalist Alex Haley in a series of interviews (for which there were more than 50 done) that were done between 1963 until X's assassination in 1965. Haley was considered at the time to be a ghostwriter for his contribution, but later years have noted his crucial role in discretion with handling the manuscript, and the epilogue was written specifically by Haley as comments of his own on X (three chapters excised from the final version were eventually found and put up for sale years later). Its publication led to a lasting influence on readers and writers alike as the first of numerous works involving the subject of Malcolm X, with a few biographies coming out in the next few decades. For example, one released in 2011 won a Pulitzer Prize but also inspired a response book aimed at correcting it, while a diary of Malcolm X's time in 1964 was released in 2014. The most recent biography was The Dead Are Arising, written by Les and Tamara Payne that was published to noted reviews in 2020.
It should not be surprising that a film was in the development stage as early as 1968 with the sale of rights to filming the novel going to producer Marvin Worth. He had met X long ago in the streets of New York and he would spend nearly 25 years trying to get a film about him to the big screen, which started by hiring novelist and playwright James Baldwin to develop the initial script. Screenwriter Arnold Perl would also be brought in to write for the screenplay, doing so until his death in 1971. The screenplay devised by Baldwin and Perl would ultimately falter into development struggles, although Baldwin would write about X various times over the next few years (such as
No Name in the Street (1972), which depicted him from Baldwin's perspective) before his death in 1987 (he described the experience of trying to write a Hollywood adaptation as less than if one was horsewhipped or jailed in Bellevue); Baldwin would not be credited for his work when it came time for this film, as per requested by Baldwin's surviving family. Worth and Perl would work together for a documentary on X that was released in 1972 (done instead of a drama due to a lack of cooperation from close figures to speak on camera), which was mostly constructed of his speeches and interviews with occasional narration and newsreel footage. As was the case two decades later, Betty Shabazz served as a consultant to the filmmakers, and each was distributed by Warner Bros with voice-over work by
Ossie Davis (reciting words spoken at X's eulogy). Several writers and directors were considered through a span of two decades (with one potential idea having Richard Pryor as X), and it was the argument over the qualifications of a white man directing in
Norman Jewison (director of films like
In the Heat of the Night) to direct that led to the ultimate pick in Lee, who had wanted to make a film of X since college (for his part, he received a bit of heat from black nationalists and others like Amiri Baraka that thought it would be a middle-class rendition of X, and more can be found about it in the book Lee wrote of his experiences making the film).
Perhaps it was fate that Washington would play this role on film. Eleven years earlier, back when Washington was just a struggling actor, he was cast as Malcolm X in an Off Broadway production "When the Chickens Came Home to Roost"; when preparing for the role, he read the autobiography along with tapes and books and was struck by what he saw that he described as being like "heavy, mean stuff...helping me get some things off my chest." Even having Washington cast in the lead role and Lee as director didn't mean an easy production, which would experience immense pressure from community leaders (who feared a film with too much focus on his life before becoming X) to financiers (who aspired for a budget less than $30 million), for which donations were made by several prominent individuals that ranged from Michael Jordan to Prince. In essence, one could sum the feeling generated by the film through its last few spoken words, spoken through archival footage of X himself: "by whatever means necessary." It is the story of a man who forged a path of self-determination that lent clear expression to the frustrations expressed by crowds of people in America with a multi-faceted look at just who he was in the eyes of those who saw him (whether that meant the streets, jail, or on the podium) that makes a portrayal of legacy come through with fiery tension for all of what it wants to say in truths and about what endures about the man in the decades after his death. As X once stated, his life never stayed fixed in one place for too long, and this rings true here. Washington is asked to do a tremendous task of showing this one man go through the stages of life with diverse power that cannot waver, whether as "Red" or as the reborn X. He does a tremendous job here, towering over the other folks with mindset of eyes ready to open to speak of responsibility but also find his eyes open for himself to learn as well as teach as a man with no fear. Through the course of roughly two decades, we see the folks around him that make up three distinct periods of his life with varying effect and a distinct look from cinematographer Ernest B. Dickerson (in his last collaboration with Lee), and a student of history or knowing faces will see a few familiar ones along the way (such as Karen Allen or Bobby Seale, for example). The first spends time with Harlem and Boston with actors such as Lindo, Lee, Randle and Vernon. In those sequences, Washington sells the hustle and bustle of what is needed in tandem with Lindo, who is just as charismatic without having even half the time required, while Lee and the others do just fine. In the next time of focus, one focuses on Washington alongside Hall with a cameo from Plummer (playing self-righteousness with ease). Washington undergoes a new phase with awakening that is helped by Hall and his solemn conviction. The next one is distilled in two forms, involving Bassett and Freeman alongside supporting stuff from Thomas. Freeman does his part in wisdom alongside hypocrisy (a further look into him reveals more than just infidelity, let us say) while Bassett follows with Washington in well enough moments, and they have their part to play when it comes to that fateful climax.
Maneuvering the waters of adapting X to the screen meant a few moments of narrative reconciliation, even with a run time of 201 minutes. For instance, the character of Baines was actually a composite of X's siblings in respect to their role in the redemption of X while in prison. X's pilgrimage to Mecca (which was the first American feature to ever film there, although Lee had to hire a second unit crew to get permission...and Warner Bros actually thought of just doing it in New Jersey) was actually funded by his half sister Ella (also not mentioned), which is interesting considering that it is the last known surviving home of Malcolm in his childhood (he lived there with her for five years). There is one prominent figure absent in the story of the Nation of Islam, one with a legacy stoked with plenty of controversy (you might recognize him as the man behind the Million Man March alongside plenty of controversial remarks thought of as anti-Semitic or homophobic) that reportedly threatened Lee; it is disputed how much involvement the NOI may have had over the assassination even to this day. The film touches on the provocative from start to finish with its ties to the present day, most notably with the appearance of Nelson Mandela, reciting Malcolm's own words to a group of schoolchildren. In short, what we have is a film packed with a great deal of words to say about its subject then and now that generally hits the mark in stoking a statement about what he was to those that saw him in all of his forms, whether that means a kid born into tragedy, or a shaken upbringing into trouble, or a hardened man seeking light, or a man who found himself on a much bigger journey than himself. It could only end with the eulogy given by Davis, with his spoken words reaching ever still even with the passage of 27 years since he gave the words at X's funeral, one that described him as a prince that "didn't hesitate to die, because he loved us so." One could only aspire to live a life worth discussion over rhetoric and actions (controversy be damned) like X, and it is one's privilege to seek out the film for its shining performance in Washington that serves as one of his best alongside a director worthy of capturing it and everything that comes with it in all of its detail that makes it as worthy to see on one's shelf as much as something like Lawrence of Arabia (1962), where the three hours spent are good ones to spend with their eyes open.
Next Time: A television star goes to the director's chair with Once Upon a Time...When We Were Colored.
Overall, I give it 10 out of 10 stars.
