OVP: BlacKkKlansman (2018)

Film: BlacKkKlansman (2018)
Stars: John David Washington, Adam Driver, Laura Herrier, Topher Grace, Jasper Paakkonen
Director: Spike Lee
Oscar History: 6 nominations/1 win (Best Picture, Director, Supporting Actor-Adam Driver, Film Editing, Score, Adapted Screenplay*)
Snap Judgment Ranking: 3/5 stars

As I continue to wind down the Oscar-nominated films of 2018, we now come to the final Best Picture nominee I still had outstanding, and I think the only reason I didn't get to it initially was that it was the sort of film that feels surprising that it took the Best Picture nomination.  The films of Spike Lee are not what you'd anticipate as being "Oscar-friendly" even when they occasionally are (Do the Right Thing, Malcolm X, and 4 Little Girls all received some sort of Oscar blessing).  It remains to be seen after finally being welcomed into the Best Director club this year and winning his first competitive Oscar whether or not he'll become a mainstay (ala David O. Russell) or whether this was a one-and-done situation where he won't show up again for another decade (like, say, Terrence Malick).  Either way, BlacKkKlansman is a good movie, one that probably is made better because it brought recognition to a singular filmmaker who has had this praise coming for a while.

(Spoilers Ahead) The film is at least loosely based on the life of Ron Stallworth (Washington), a cop hired by the Colorado Springs Police Department (the first black man to serve on the force).  He is put undercover first to investigate civil rights leader Kwame Ture, and there meets a student activist named Patrice Dumas (Harrier), and is drawn into her politics, even though she stands against the police force, of which he is a member.  Stallworth eventually joins the intelligence division, and starts to investigate the KKK, pretending to be a white man on the phone named Walter Breachway, and has his partner Flip Zimmerman (Driver), a Jewish man, stand in as Breachway so that they can bring down the Klan, who are purportedly planning some sort of attack.  All the while Stallworth, under the guise of his voiced Breachway, is having conversations with Grand Wizard David Duke (Grace), who is completely duped by Stallworth, who feeds him racist pablum to fuel his ego.  Eventually a bombing, perpetrated by the wife of one of the Klan members Connie (New York theater staple Ashlie Atkinson, who does a fantastic job with a small role in this picture), is thwarted by Stallworth & Zimmerman's investigation, and they save the day (with Stallworth getting to tell off David Duke over the phone).  Of course, as this is a Spike Lee joint, a proper happy ending is not in the cards, and we get both the police trying to cover up the investigation, as well as a look at the continued racism that Stallworth and Dumas must endure (the Klan lights a white cross near their home at the end of the movie).  The film ends with footage from the 2017 Charlottesville rallies, dedicating the picture to Heather Heyer who was murdered during the rallies by a white nationalist, and interspersing speeches of Duke alongside those of Donald Trump.

The film is entertaining, provocative, and challenging, while still being more popcorn than the Lee films that rose the director to prominence in the late 1980's and early 90's.  The film unfolds very much like an adult summer cop film, except one that is informed by reality and with a heavy dose of very uncomfortable laughter.  The movie plays figures in the Klan (like Duke) occasionally for laughs, but never shies away from the real damage that the racist organization does through its hate speech.  The movie is also not shy about showing the racism that is all-too-real in police forces across America.  Lee shows a patrolman who gropes Patrice because she is black and female early in the film, and while he eventually has him be caught by Stallworth, it's heavily implied that this sort of thing happens all-the-time and most of the time abuse-of-privilege remains unchecked.  Considering the events that happened in Phoenix just this past week, this is a conversation that may take place in the 1970's, but is pertinent to our national conversation today.

The movie isn't perfect.  Occasionally Lee's indulgences as a director are ill-served, with him going for easy sight gags and persistent visuals that toe-the-line between underscoring his point and just being repetitive.  Washington in the lead is fine, though it's hard not to make comparisons to his father (he's the son of Oscar Winner Denzel Washington), particularly since he's not as good at the dramatic bits of the film as he is some of the lighter or more charismatic moments for Ron; his missing out on an Oscar nomination (he had to be very close) is not a big loss, and he probably got all he needed by launching his career here.  Adam Driver who did get an Oscar nomination, is best-in-show of the cast, playing Zimmerman as a man who has tried his best to avoid prejudice (despite being Jewish), hiding his identity when he can (in a way that Ron cannot), and plays him as someone who doesn't view himself as racist, but has definitely taken advantage of privilege when he can.  The subtle evolution of such a man is hard to play onscreen, but Driver, possibly the most reliable presence in movies today, does it with ease and it's good to finally have "Oscar nominee" next to his name, even if he's been better.  The same can obviously be said for Spike Lee, who finally took that competitive Oscar here, even if it feels more like a career win than for this film in particular.