"Blackkklansman"

Saw "Blackkklansman" at the Tower Theater. Strange film for me, since I'm old enough to remember the time quite well, and since I moved to Denver Colorado in 1976, not far from the movie's (and book's) setting of Colorado Springs, circa 1972.

Spike Lee heightens the black-white distinction to fingernails-on-blackboard levels. (That allusion sadly shows my age, given the widespread use of whiteboards in classrooms these days.) Spike Lee also emphasizes the importance of history (with a restrained Harry Belafonte reciting an almost-clinical description of a lynching for effective horror), while simultaneously portraying both black activists and KKK terrorists almost as caricatures of themselves. You won't see radicaller radicals or racistier racists anywhere. (In the hands of filmmakers, humdrum history is a bit of a football.)

I was watching for more subtle things, though, especially how the Republican Party was portrayed. In 1972, segregationists were in disarray, particularly after the assassination attempt against George Wallace, but Spike Lee never mentions Wallace. Instead, the role of the Republican Party as the true agent of institutionalized racism is emphasized, with reelection posters for Nixon-Agnew clearly visible during critical scenes.

In general, I thought the film was good and effective and speaks to our time, particularly since racial relations have been pushed to fingernails-on-blackboard levels by the white nationalists in the White House today. Hoping for a fingernails-on-whiteboard future.