BlacKkKlansman - Spike Lee isn't it

Spike Lee has spent a career making the films America needed to see.  I have sometimes wondered if Lee's films would be as well-regarded if there was more black directors telling these stories.  His films are sometimes too shmaltzy and play to a contemporary audience at the expense of longevity (Do the Right Thing is extraordinarily dated in its style, 25th Hour is laden with visual cues that were powerful in the aftermath of 9/11 - less so as time goes on) - but he is always telling the story that America needs to hear.  His films are striking and carry weight to a contemporary audience.  All films are political - Lee's always more overtly than others.  Sometimes though, overt is good.  Overt is powerful.  Overt makes you think.

BlacKkKlansman was made in 2017 in the aftermath of the ascension of Donald Trump to the US presidency, and the ushering in of an era of regressive racial politics, reversal of social gains and unleashing of a new wave of racism on to American streets.  It seemed as if years of liberal social progress was being wiped out in a moment, with an increase in police murders of young black men and fascists emboldened on America's streets aping the president's codified racism.  It is against this background that Lee stepped up to make BlacKkKlansman - adapted from a true story of a black policeman who infiltrated a local KKK group in small town Colorado.  John David Washington is Ron Stallworth - Colorado Springs' first ever black policeman.  His first job is to spy on a civil rights rally, but soon stumbles across the local KKK cell - calling them to make contact and before long being invited along to meetings.  Adam Driver plays Stallworth's partner Flip Zimmerman, himself Jewish and as much an outsider to the KKK as Ron himself.  However Zimmerman is white, and so is able to infiltrate the KKK meetings in person, pretending to be Stallworth.

The film makes two crucial points.  One is that laughing at racists is good.  Two is that the racists of the 1970s never went away - they've just been waiting for their time to rise again.  The script borrows heavily from what any contemporary audience will recognise as Trumpian language, drawing parallels between the leader of the KKK and Trump.  The men and one woman of the KKK that we see are laughably idiotic in their views and behaviours, but never are they anything less than dangerous.  As it was in the 1970s so it is now, the danger posed by hatred on our streets is frightening and real, and should be countered wherever it is found.

I was initially disappointed that Stallworth's character wasn't more rounded.  He appears at the start of the film almost as a Deus ex Machina ready to kick KKK ass on the white bred streets of Colorado.  Who is he?  Why is he here?  My girlfriend pointed out that this is actually a strength in the film.  Stallworth could be anyone.  It doesn't matter who he is or how he got here, he's an average American Joe who wants to be a cop, meet a nice girl and build a future.  He could be any one of us.  He shouldn't have to justify his existence or feel a gripping fear when getting searched by the police just because of the colour of his skin.  The fact he does have to think and feel that way is what is wrong with America.  It has been wrong for a very long time, and a divisive president in the white house isn't going to heal those wounds any time soon.  The best artists like Lee can do is show a mirror to the US and get everyone to ask themselves if this is a society they want to live in.  Lee's final montage of real life events is powerful (to a contemporary audience - see above comments though) and underscores that this is story American needs to see.  We in the UK would do well to remind ourselves that democracy and freedom isn't something we should take granted.  Who knows if we will get our very own Trump one day.  And who knows what will become of this nation.