* This post may contain spoiler alerts.
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ (7 Stars)
Plot: Ron Stallworth, an African American police officer from Colorado Springs, CO successfully manages to infiltrate the local Ku Klux Klan branch with the help of a Jewish surrogate who eventually becomes its leader. Based on actual events.* BlacKkKlansman is a Biography - which means it's an account of someone's life written by someone else.
The movie poster says it all. This movie is based on a crazy, outrageous, incredible true story that until the movie came out, I'm not sure people knew about. Now this movie was never on my radar until it was nominated at the Golden Globes and rumored to be nominated for Best Picture at the 2019 Oscars.
This movie was shocking, funny, heartbreaking, inspiring and so many other words. First of all, this movie would not be as successful if it weren't for the work of the amazing cast and director Spike Lee. John David Washington who played Ron Stallworth in the movie did a phenomenal job bringing this character to life on the screen and make it seem relatable.
Typically I try to see as many movies I can in the theaters vs at home because I almost always fall asleep if I watch a movie at home. Since this movie came out in August 2018 and I didn't really start hearing about it until award season, the only way I could watch this movie was RedBoxing it. This is the first movie in a very long time that I was able to stay awake through the entire movie.
The storyline was very engaging. It kept me on the edge of my seat wondering what was going to happen next. Honestly, I think this movie should also be in the thriller category as well. Even though the movie is covering a very tough topic, Spike Lee also kept is light-hearted. There were a lot of times when I laughed which I would not expect to say about a biography especially one over a race issue.
Let's go through the main cast quickly. Adam Driver, who played the white Ron Stallworth, did an amazing job continuing the character that John David Washington set-up for him on the phone. Ryan Eggold played the local Ku Klux Klan leader, Walter Breachway, and was very convincing and equally creepy. Speaking of creepy, Jasper Paakkonen did an amazing job playing the accusor of the local Klan and seemed very crazy. And lastly, Topher Grace, who played David Duke - the leader of the Ku Klux Klan, did an incredible job of taking on the persona of this man. The whole cast was amazing.
Now I can't write about this movie and not talk about the amazing job Spike Lee did. This was a very tough topic to cover. As an African American man, I can't imagine this was easy for him to do. I know he has done racially driven movies in the past but I can't imagine any of those touch this topic. If he wasn't the director, I don't think this movie would have been nominated for much this award season.
I have one last thing I want to add. I had NO idea that this was still an issue or that the Ku Klux Klan was still active. After the movie finished, I sat there watching the credits wondering how I could be so blind to issues in the world. I would highly recommend this movie because it is very eye-opening. Not just because an African American man infiltrates the Ku Klux Klan, but because this is still an issue our society is dealing with.
Did you see BlacKkKlansman? Let me know in the comments below what you liked or disliked about the movie.
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