BlacKkKlansman
I hesitated to even write a review for Spike Lee's new movie because I had so many ideas about it, most of those ideas are floating through my brain like guppies waiting to be swallowed whole by a whale and because -- well -- critiquing it is as overwhelming as the feelings provoked by it. I just wasted a sentence, though, on a movie that deserves, probably, an academic treatise, such is its complexity and craft, and while I didn't think it perfect by any stretch, it made me feel uncomfortable and that's exactly what a movie about race in America should do to a white woman. I don't think there's any need to explain why I felt uncomfortable (and it's a good thing to be white and feel uncomfortable today), but when I wasn't feeling uncomfortable, I was lifted up in spirit by Spike Lee's ability to meld so many seemingly disparate things -- the power of image to influence people, the power (and not so subtle warning of the power) of image in cinema, in particular, to even let people off the hook from truly regarding racism, in this country, the power of laughter to both highlight and horrify, the power of the patriarchy, the obeisance to the patriarchy by even those who are being oppressed, police brutality, anti-Semitism, Trumpism, music and culture and fashion -- into a piece of art that left me feeling both exhilarated and drained.
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Yeah. I absolutely have to see this.
ReplyDeleteThank you, we saw it on Saturday afternoon and have been spinning since. You put it perfectly! We could not control the tears at the end and for the rest of the day,it is an important film.
ReplyDeleteBeing an incredible True Story it makes it all the more an important film!
ReplyDeleteThe more I read about this, the more I want to see it!
ReplyDeleteI saw this on Saturday and can’t stop thinking about it. I love your review! Perhaps what made my head spin the most was the realization that our current leadership talks like those klansmen and has that agenda. It’s crazy! Also how little has actually changed since the seventies.
ReplyDeleteYup, everything you said.
ReplyDelete