Just from the title alone, I was a bit hesitant going to see BLACKkKLANSMAN. Watching a movie about the past that shows the horrors that happened usually isn’t something I enjoy, and is something I normally avoid. However, the trailer looked like they approached the subject with a bit of humor and it was enough to convince me to check out the movie. What I didn’t know going in, that not only is BLACKkKLANSMAN based on a book, but the real life story of a detective from Colorado Springs, Ron Stallworth.
The movie follows Stallworth as he becomes the first African American police officer in Colorado Springs and the struggles he has as he tries to find his place as the only black officer on the force. From daily racist comments to officers attacking him, Stallworth bears it a strong determination. Finding his way to the intelligence team, he finds an ad for the Ku Klux Klan and calls posing as a white man. He instantly hatches a plan, to infiltrate the Klan and try to bring it down with the help of some of his fellow officers.
Throughout the movie, the movie tackles what it was like living in the United States in the 1970’s and parallels the resistance from both the Black Students Union and the KKK. Both groups fighting each other for their beliefs – however right and wrong they are. Several times throughout the film, you hear the Klan members chant “Make America Great” or “America First” – and the propaganda films that could be taken from the current administration or news clips of today.
While the movie is filled with harsh language, that made me cringe through most of it, the messages were clear. The movie drives home that the change and equality hasn’t happened yet. That the rights of others are still trampled upon because certain people feel their rights are more important. BLACKkKLANSMAN is an important reminder that we still have a long way to go to equality, and is a harsh look at our current society through the lens of the past.
BLACKkKLANSMAN Opens Wide August 10, 2018
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BLACKkKLANSMAN Trailer:
About BLACKkKLANSMAN:
From visionary filmmaker Spike Lee comes the incredible true story of an American hero.
It’s the early 1970s, a time of great social upheaval as the struggle for civil rights rages on. Ron Stallworth (John David Washington) becomes the first African-American detective on the Colorado Springs Police Department, but his arrival is greeted with skepticism and open hostility by the department’s rank and file. Undaunted, Stallworth resolves to make a name for himself and a difference in his community. He bravely sets out on a dangerous mission: infiltrate and expose the Ku Klux Klan.
Posing as a racist extremist, Stallworth contacts the group and soon finds himself invited into its inner circle. He even cultivates a relationship with the Klan’s Grand Wizard, David Duke (Topher Grace), who praises Ron’s commitment to the advancement of White America. With the undercover investigation growing ever more complex, Stallworth’s colleague, Flip Zimmerman (Adam Driver), poses as Ron in face-to-face meetings with members of hate group, gaining insider’s knowledge of a deadly plot. Together, Stallworth and Zimmerman team up to take down the organization whose real aim is to sanitize its violent rhetoric to appeal to the mainstream.
Produced by the team behind the Academy-Award® winning Get Out, BlacKkKlansman offers an unflinching, true-life examination of race relations in 1970s America that is just as bracingly relevant in today’s tumultuous world.
Focus Features and Legendary Pictures in association with Perfect World Pictures present a QC Entertainment/ Blumhouse production, a Monkeypaw / 40 Acres and a Mule Filmworks production, BlacKkKlansman. John David Washington, Adam Driver, Topher Grace, Corey Hawkins, Laura Harrier, Ryan Eggold, Jaspar Pääkkönen, Ashlie Atkinson. Costume designer, Marci Rodgers. Executive producers, Edward H. Hamm Jr., Jeanette Volturno, Win Rosenfeld, Matthew A. Cherry. Production designer, Curt Beech. Music by Terence Blanchard. Editor, Barry Brown. Director of photography, Chayse Irvin, CSC. Produced by Sean McKittrick, Jason Blum, Ray Mansfield, Jordan Peele, Spike Lee, Shaun Redick. Written by Charlie Wachtel, David Rabinowitz, Kevin Willmott, Spike Lee. A Spike Lee joint.
Running Time: 2 hours and 8 minutes
Genre: Drama
MPAA Rating: TBD