History and Film: Moving Pictures and the Study of the Past by Maarten Pereboom

Author:Maarten Pereboom [Pereboom, Maarten]
Language: eng
Format: azw3
ISBN: 9781315508030
Publisher: Taylor and Francis
Published: 2016-09-13T04:00:00+00:00

MALCOLM X (1992)

The Civil Rights Movement arguably was the main event in U.S. history after the Second World War, transforming American society from one in which white supremacy was assumed into one in which equality among all citizens became the law of the land. The life of Martin Luther King, Jr. (1929–1968) was the subject of a 1978 television miniseries, King, and earlier, in 1970, Sidney Lumet and Joseph L. Mankiewicz made a documentary called King: A Filmed Record … From Montgomery to Memphis, which was nominated for the Best Documentary Feature Academy Award but is unavailable on VHS or DVD. The only major motion picture, therefore, to portray the life of a civil rights leader has been Spike Lee’s Malcolm X. Drawing largely on the famous Autobiography of Malcolm X, the film tells the life story of Malcolm Little (1925–1965), beginning with his poverty- and tragedy-stricken childhood in different Midwestern cities, then showing the life of crime he led in Boston and New York before he going to jail in 1946. While in jail, he learned of the teachings of the Nation of Islam, and after his release in 1952 he became a disciple of Elijah Muhammad. While he initially preached separation from white society for blacks—he replaced his surname Little with an X to get rid of his slave name—his message became more conciliatory in time, and his charisma and message made him an influential voice in the Civil Rights Movement. He was assassinated in February 1965, many believe by forces from within the Nation of Islam. Having become a martyr, Malcolm X’s reputation continued to grow. Compared to Dr. King, Malcolm X had a more radical edge and was famous for the words “by any means necessary” as opposed to King’s message of strict nonviolence.

Spike Lee’s filmmaking often has a caustic edge (as in Do the Right Thing, Chapter 8), but he approached Malcolm X with great reverence, and the film all but tells its audience to sit up straight and listen to what Malcolm X had to say to them. The film generated plenty of discussion upon its release and did modestly well at the box office. The Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) could not ignore Denzel Washington’s outstanding portrayal of X, but the movie’s only other nomination was for costume design. The book still has more power than the movie, in part because Malcolm X was telling his own story to Alex Haley (who later wrote Roots), whereas Lee takes a more hagiographical approach that is uncharacteristic of much of his work. At 202 minutes, it was also quite long, even for a biopic. But whatever its flaws, the film is of great historical interest, not just for its content: the production of the film demonstrates the growing importance of African American talent in a still largely white-dominated film industry; and a number of prominent stars contributed funds to its production. And the movie quite obviously was intended to prompt discussion about relations between blacks and whites in contemporary American society, and it did.

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