Movie after movie has been a disappointment for the last decade (with the exception of his stellar Katrina and Michael Jackson documentaries). And suddenly out of nowhere comes one of his more accessible and enjoyable movies -- the based on a true story Black Klansman.
Sure, it has a few of his eccentric quirks -- the cameo from The Wire actor who says 'shiiiiiiit,' the signature dolly shot that he uses now no matter if it serves the story or not and an unabashed lack of subtlety. But a funny thing has happened -- the Trump era -- and suddenly Lee's assertiveness and broad strokes feel totally relevant and appropriate, especially when his target for ire is white supremacy.
Perhaps this is why is new film is his first to draw real commercial and Oscar buzz in some time, it has a pretty much universally reviled bad guy, but I think it's be simplistic to dismiss this movie as a purely entertaining cops and robbers tale, there's a lot going on under the surface of this movie.
Lee purposely namecheck W.E.B. DuBois' famous writing on the duality of living that most people of color have to live with every day. They have to be both black and American, welcomed by whites and blacks simultaneously ... sometimes this dichotomy is impossible to live with or live up to.
This complex conflict is brilliantly embodied by the hero of this film (Denzel Washington's son John David Washington in a charismatic, breakout role) who is both an earnest, dedicated police officer but also someone who can't help but seem the wisdom and righteousness in black radical politics.
In the late 70s his character talks his way into being an undercover cop and then into an elaborate investigation into the KKK, where he poses as a supremacist on the phone and a colleague (an equally game Adam Driver) -- who happens to be Jewish -- must pretend to be him in person.Despite the stakes and seriousness of the subject matter, Lee has tremendous fun with the set-up and execution of this scheme. I'm sure some people will take issue with how much of a caricature he makes of the Klansman, but I like that he portrays them as profoundly ignorant -- because they are, and ridiculing them diminishes their power.
But he also makes it plain how truly evil they are with a powerful cameo performance from the legendary Harry Belafonte, who delivers a stirring monologue about a particularly vicious episode in the Klan's history.
The rest of the film plays out almost like a more highbrow action comedy -- with bits of brilliant social satire and commentary from Lee interspersed in. For instance, this film is one big middle finger to movie's that have historically glamorized the confederacy -- namely Gone with the Wind and The Birth of a Nation, both of which are pointed called out here.
But Lee isn't just concerned with the past -- he is also clearly taking direct shots at Trump too, portraying David Duke chanting 'America First' and closing the movie with a powerful nod to the tragedy in Charlottesville.
What really impressed me about Black Klansman was that it landed these punches so effectively. While Chiraq was a tonal mess, often spewing facts at the audience rather than telling a coherent story, Black Klansman never turns it back on the audience, never gives into to too much speechifying. It makes it's points clearly but also totally effectively.
There are big laughs, but then even deeper feelings underneath them. It's a movie that has really stuck with me and I like it more and more as I think about it.
I don't know if the credit should go to Jordan Peele, who served as a producer on this and very well may have helped to reign Lee in ... but whatever it was this feels like his freshest, most fun movie in a very long time, and I've really hoping it gets the audience it deserves.
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