Spike Lee's Malcolm X: Film Analysis and Historical Accuracy

Introduction: Lee's Vision and the Film's Epic Scope

Malcolm X was not a man who could be easily characterized, and the same is true of Spike Lee's 1992 film. Malcolm X was a labor of love for Lee, who was only thirty-five at the time of the film's release. Lee had been a young child when Malcolm X was assassinated, so his knowledge of the man was not based on any personal recollections. Instead, he read The Autobiography of Malcolm X as a junior high school student and has said it changed his life forever (Hopkins, 2004). Lee's goal in making the film was to introduce Malcolm Little — later known as Malcolm X — to a new generation of African Americans. He felt it was an important piece of history that might otherwise be forgotten.

Lee realized that Malcolm X was a controversial figure, both in life and in death, and said that for this reason he wanted to make the film as accurate as possible. Lee succeeded in creating a film of epic proportions that shows the different facets of Malcolm's life. As a record of historical facts, however, the film has some major flaws.

Opening Imagery and the Rodney King Context

The film's opening shot is dramatic and leaves no doubt about Lee's feelings regarding Malcolm X as an American hero. With a voiceover using Malcolm's own words, the screen is filled with an American flag. It is reminiscent of the opening shot in Franklin Schaffner's Patton, the 1970 Oscar-winner about another controversial American. The degree of controversy swirling around General George S. Patton, however, can be considered minimal compared to the controversy surrounding Malcolm X, so the comparison is a bold one. In Patton, the General (played by George C. Scott) stands to the side of an enormous flag and delivers a rallying speech designed to convey his strength and determination while offering the filmgoer some insight into his character. His tone is proud and impassioned. Malcolm X speaks in an impassioned voice as well; his rhetoric grows stronger as the edges of the flag begin to burn. The now-famous video of the Rodney King beating is cut into shots of the burning flag.

The burning of the flag is meant to be shocking. It cues the viewer that the film to follow will make a strong statement — one that will definitely be considered controversial. When the flames are extinguished, what remains is an X made from the charred remains of the Stars and Stripes. It alludes to the hell that Malcolm X found in white-dominated American life and the trial by fire that made him the man and the activist who described himself, in his own words, not as American by virtue of being born in this country, but as "a victim of America."

The use of the Rodney King video in the opening — the first time the Warner Brothers logo was not used in one of the studio's films (Boyd, 1993) — is significant for several reasons. The use of black-and-white footage is meant to add credibility to the film as a factual account of Malcolm's life and work. Throughout the film, Lee intersperses actual historical footage with reenactments filmed in black and white.

Rodney King, often described in the press simply as a "motorist," was driving on the Los Angeles Freeway with friends one night in 1991. The California Highway Patrol (CHP) detected that he was speeding and attempted to pull him over. King, who was on probation for a robbery offense, feared the consequences of a traffic violation and led the CHP on a high-speed chase instead of stopping. By the time King was caught and ordered to leave his vehicle, additional CHP officers had arrived on the scene. King was tasered when officers decided he was uncooperative, and when further efforts to subdue him failed, several officers beat him viciously with their batons. The entire incident was videotaped, and even in the days before YouTube, the images made their way around the globe quickly. For African Americans, particularly those in Los Angeles, the video affirmed their belief that racial profiling and abuse by police was rampant (Gray, n.d.).

Lee's Malcolm X was released in November 1992, approximately six months after the devastating violence that erupted in the aftermath of the Rodney King verdicts. When white police officers were acquitted of charges by a predominantly white jury in suburban Simi Valley, the nation's worst race riots broke out. Ultimately, fifty-three people died and there was over one billion dollars in property damage (Hopkins, 2004). The King beating, the trial, and the riots were terrible moments in American history that tragically coincided with the release of Lee's film. In a way, however, the film could not have come out at a better time, given the heightened social and political awareness surrounding race relations. The video made a powerful statement about the treatment of African Americans and set up perfectly the story Lee was poised to tell.

Lee said that his film did not glorify any one phase of Malcolm's development as a Black leader but rather looked at "all the different Malcolms as making up one Malcolm" (Rule, 1992). It can be argued that the film divides Malcolm's life into three sections: his early years, his time in prison and growing awareness of Islam, and his post-prison activism. It can also be argued that Lee glorified Malcolm in each of these phases, using his actors, the script, and techniques of cinematography to do so in different ways.

References

Boyd, T. (1993). Popular culture and political empowerment: The Americanization and death of Malcolm X. Cineaste, 19(4), pp. 12–13.

Gray, M. (n.d.). The L.A. riots: 15 years after Rodney King. Time. Retrieved from http://www.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1614117_1614084_1614831,00.html

Hopkins, H. (2004). The making of Malcolm X. Footsteps, 6(5), pp. 30–33.

Lee, S. (Director). (1992). Malcolm X [Film]. Los Angeles: Warner Brothers.

Locke, J. (1993). Adapting the autobiography: The transformation of Malcolm X. Cineaste, 19(4), pp. 5–7.

Marable, M. (1993). Malcolm as messiah: Cultural myth vs. historical reality in Malcolm X. Cineaste, 19(4), pp. 7–9.

Painter, N. I. (1993). Malcolm X across the genres. American Historical Review, 98(2), pp. 432–439.

Rule, S. (1992). Malcolm X: The facts, the fictions, the film [Film review]. New York Times. Retrieved from http://partners.nytimes.com/library/film/111592lee-malcolm-content.html