A good movie

I already saw this movie but since it was such a long time ago, I was really eager to check it out again. First of all, when was the last time that Spike Lee had actually delivered a decent movie? It was probably ‘Inside Man’ which he made already a decade ago and his recent work has been either really obscure and/or really underwhelming. Anyway, at the beginning of the 90’s, Lee was one of the most promising directors at work and this movie was definitely his most ambitious one. When I first saw this movie, I must have been 14-15 years old and, even though of course I had heard about the man, I must admit that I didn’t know much about Malcolm X and his ideas. Only therefore I thought it was already a fascinating picture. I mean, I have always been interested by politics so to have such an epic tale about one of the most notorious black American political figures was just really neat. Obviously, for Denzel Washington who just had his breakthrough a few years before with ‘Glory’, it was pretty much the role of his lifetime and many (including myself) think that, instead of rewarding him for ‘Training Day’, he should have won instead the Academy Award for this great performance. The tricky thing about this flick is that Spike Lee greatly admired the man and, therefore, the subject was maybe too close to him and he didn’t dare being more critical towards this historical figure. Anyway, to conclude, even though I think the whole thing was a little too straightforward, it was still a really solid biopic and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in the subject.

7/10