Martin Luther King Jr. Day Celebration Special

Merry MLK Day, readers! Out of respect for Dr. King and his dream of peace, I'm review Malcolm X. Malcolm X is, retrospectivley, an intersting watch, because it was a biopic before biopics were popular. I guess it's just one more example of whitey stealing the black man's style. Malcolm X is the story of Malcolm X, the famous civil rights activist during the 50's and until his death in 1965. Unlike most biopics, which deal mainly with the subjects life during their most notable accomplishment, Malcolm X portrays the entire man's life even giving brief exposition about Mr. X's parents.

Malcolm X clearly about to tell say "Fuck"

Malcolm X is a testament to the skills of it's director Spike Lee. Spike Lee also served as a screenwriter for this film. Lee gives this story a great amount of scope. For example, it shows the life of a young Malcolm in a rural school. It shows 4Malcolm later living as criminal in the city of Boston and it shows how he traveled the world towards the end of his life. TO me this shows that Malcolm X wasn't a static figure to be remembered only for his speeches, but instead a dynamic man who evolved with the places and circumstances he encountered. The narraticve of the story also depicts this. Lee jumps back and forth through time early in the film, which shows how Malcolm X became the figure we learn about in school. This is an important thing to do with such a figure. Whereas Martin Luthor King Jr. advocated for an end to segragation, Malcolm X advocated seperate societies for different races and the depiction of his youth shows why.

Speke Lee (left) tells Micheal Jordan (right) how fabulous he looks in brown

The scene I will always remember from this movie is the scene where Malcolm is in prison. It is there that he first learns about the nation of Islam and the evils of the white man. I was awed when Malcolm was shown a dictionary and read the definaitions of white and black. This scene shows that there is an inherent rascism in a our language. Spike Lee uses light in these scenes as a symbol for knowledge. Sunlight is shown streaming in a window as he prays for the first time in prison. Even though white people, and therefore myself, are called the devil, the growth Malcolm X goes through is inspiring.

Malcolm X is a story about a man's personal growth. And as he matured as a person our nation has matured as a...nation? Four decades after Malcolm X's death, America has elected the first black president. And while Mr. X said that one black man playing in major league baseball did not make up for the greatest crime in human history (I'm paraphrasing here), I'm sure he would say a black president does. So now that racism is over, is the white man still the devil?