BlacKkKlansman (2018)

BlacKkKlansman is Spike Lee’s fierce, often darkly funny dramatization of the true story of Ron Stallworth, the first Black detective in the Colorado Springs Police Department, who in the early 1970s convinces his superiors to let him infiltrate the local Ku Klux Klan. Working by phone as “Ron Stallworth” while a white Jewish officer, Flip Zimmerman, poses as him in person, the two detectives piece together a surreal and dangerous investigation that exposes the KKK’s plans and the racism embedded in their own department. The film balances sharp satire and outrage with tense undercover suspense, intimate character moments (including Stallworth’s involvement with activist Patrice Dumas) and pointed political commentary about race, identity and American violence. Based on real events, it moves between biting humor and hair-raising danger, ending on images that link the past to present-day racial tensions. Viewers can expect to be entertained, provoked and unsettled — laughing at absurdity, gripping the armrest during risky scenes, and left thinking about the persistence of hatred and the courage required to confront it.

Actors: John David Washington, Adam Driver, Laura Harrier

Director: Spike Lee

Runtime: 135 min

Genres: Biography, Comedy, Crime

6.5 /10 83 /100 7.5 /10 7.4 /10