Malcolm X (film)

Encyclopedia : M : MA : MAL : Malcolm X (film)

Malcolm X is a 1992 biographical film directed by Spike Lee about the African-American activist and Black nationalist Malcolm X. The story is based on The Autobiography of Malcolm X as told to Alex Haley.

Denzel Washington was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Malcolm X.

Malcolm X is often regarded as Lee's finest film (with the possible exception of Do the Right Thing).

Contents

1 Plot summary
2 Themes
3 Controversy
4 Main cast
5 Trivia
6 Quotes
7 External links

Plot summary

[Spoiler warningSpoiler warning]: Plot and/or ending details follow.

The film breaks the life and times of the famous African-American activist Malcolm X into three sections. The first section deals with the troubled childhood of Malcolm Little, whose father (a preacher) was murdered by the Black Legion and whose mother was institutionalized for insanity. Malcolm grows up and gets a job as a Pullman porter, calling himself Detroit Red. Getting involved with a Harlem gangster named West Indian Archie with whom he has a falling out, Malcolm flees back to Boston and decides to become a common thief. He and his best friend, Shorty (played by Spike Lee) are arrested by the police and Malcolm is sentenced to a 10 year prison term. The second section follows his life in prison, where a fellow inmate, Baines, introduces him to the teachings of the Nation of Islam.

The third section follows Malcolm's religious conversion as a messianic disciple of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. During this fervent immersion into the Nation of Islam, he becomes an incendiary speaker for the movement and marries Betty Shabazz. Malcolm X preaches a doctrine of separation from white society, however, a pilgrimage to Mecca softens his beliefs, teaches him that Muslims come from all races, even Caucasians, and he endeavors to break free of the strict dogma of the Nation of Islam, with tragic results. He was later assassinated and dies a Muslim martyr on February 21, 1965 in Harlem, New York City.

Themes

The most prominent theme that dominates the story is that of a self-made leader who makes a successful life for himself after experiencing abject poverty as a youth and prison as a young man. The film also confronts racism; much of Malcolm's railing from the pulpit speaks of the financial and social poverty experienced by those of his ethnicity in America. However, this theme has been much more sharply and unabashedly explored in Lee's earlier films; here it takes on a milder tone perhaps because Lee is more wisely interested in the life of Malcolm X, rather than focusing solely on the controversy that surrounded him all his life.

Controversy

Delroy Lindo and Denzel Washington in Malcolm X

Spike Lee sought to make the film controversial even before the project received a greenlight from Warner Brothers. Initially, Warner Studios wanted Norman Jewison to direct the film. Lee was quite vocal in his opposition to the choice of Jewison, a white filmmaker. Lee felt that X's story had to be told by a black director. Jewison eventually agreed and stepped aside. However, Lee already had a reputation of being a fiercely independent director and his critics didn't hesitate in reiterating his longstanding disdain for Hollywood convention and his surly public nature. Lee also encountered immense difficulty in securing the budget he felt was needed. Lee felt that a budget allowance of $33 million was reasonable; however, Warners balked at the sum and refused to approve any more than $20 million and a running length of 135 minutes. Lee took the battle public and several prominent African-American entertainers responded by donating $11 million more to the project. Lee was then free to complete the film the way he wanted and increase the running length to 195 minutes. Interestingly, Warners did allow for more funds after positive reaction from a viewing of a rough version of the film.

Main cast

special appearances by:

Al Sharpton - Street Preacher
Christopher Plummer - Chaplain Gill
Karen Allen - Miss Dunne
Peter Boyle - Captain Green
William Kunstler - The Judge
Nelson Mandela - Soweto Teacher
Ossie Davis - Eulogy Performer

Trivia

In the film's final scene, South African anti-apartheid activist Nelson Mandela -- recently released after 27 years of political imprisonment -- appears as a schoolteacher in a classroom in Soweto. He recites a portion of one of Malcolm X's most famous speeches, including the following sentence:

"We declare our right on this earth to be a human being, to be respected as a human being, to be given the rights of a human being in this society, on this earth, in this day, which we intend to bring into existence... "

The final phrase of that sentence is "by any means necessary." Mandela informed Lee that he could not utter this phrase on camera, stating that the South African government would somehow use it against him politically if he did. Lee understandingly obliged, and the final seconds of the film feature black-and-white footage of the real Malcolm X speaking the words "by any means necessary".

This has been the only non-documentary film that has been permitted to film in Mecca, Islam's holiest city.
The title credits of this film include footage of the beating of Rodney King.
Black Panther Party co-founder Bobby Seale and civil rights activist Al Sharpton make cameo appearances as street preachers.
Left-leaning attorney William Kunstler appears as a judge.
Civil rights activist Wyatt Tee Walker appears as a hospital spokesman.
Although Denzel Washington's two Oscars were awarded for other films (Glory and Training Day), his portrayal of Malcolm X in this film is widely regarded as the greatest performance of his career.
The eulogy that Ossie Davis delivers over the documentary footage of Malcolm X's life near the end of the film is excerpted from the one that he wrote and delivered himself at Malcolm's actual funeral in 1965.
The names of the three assassins charged with Malcolm X's murder are listed in the final credits of the film.
After the assassination scene, all footage of Malcolm X is of the real man, most of it in black and white.
The book The Autobiography of Malcolm X details how most Nation of Islam ministers turned against Malcolm at Elijah Muhammad's behest. Among them was Louis X, who is today known as Louis Farrakhan. Some have suggested that Farrakhan was complicit in Malcolm's assassination. But Lee avoids this subject entirely, and Farrakhan is conspicuously absent from the film.
Heavyweight boxing champion Muhammad Ali, a member of the Nation of Islam in the early to mid 1960s, was a personal friend of Malcolm. However, he also shunned Malcolm after his expulsion from the Nation. These events are also absent from the movie, but director Michael Mann depicts them in the 2001 film Ali, with Will Smith as Ali and Mario Van Peebles as Malcolm.
Baines, portrayed by Albert Hall, is a fictional character. His primary role in the film -- to introduce prison inmate Malcolm Little to the Nation of Islam -- was filled in real life by Malcolm's siblings, and by a fellow inmate named Bimbi.
In the 1979 TV miniseries , Malcolm was portrayed by Al Freeman, Jr. He portrays Elijah Muhammad in Malcolm X.
In two separate TV movies about the life of Muhammad Ali which aired in 2000, Malcolm was portrayed by Gary Dourdan (King of the World) and Joe Morton (Ali: An American Hero).
Jeff Stetson's 1987 one-act play The Meeting depicts an account of a fictional, clandestine encounter between Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X, shortly before Malcolm's assassination. In a 1989 American Playhouse production of the play, Jason Bernard portrays Dr. King and Dick Anthony Williams portrays Malcolm.
The late Dr. Betty Shabazz was this film's project consultant.
The last song played during the closing credits is "Revolution" by Arrested Development. The song was the only contemporary song included on the film's soundtrack.
The scenes of the JFK assassination are taken from Oliver Stone's JFK (1991). In this film, Vincent D'Onofrio is credited as playing Bill Newman (a witness to the Kennedy shooting), the same character he played in Stone's film.
Tracy Chapman, Bill Cosby, Janet Jackson, Magic Johnson, Michael Jordan, Prince, Oprah Winfrey, and Peggy Cooper Cafritz (co-founder of the Duke Ellington School of the Arts in Washington, D.C.) collectively donated approximately $11 million to ensure the completion of the film. Most of these individuals (excluding Prince and Winfrey) are pictured briefly toward the end of the closing credits.
At the age of nine, Denzel Washington's son John David Washington made a cameo appearance in the film as a student in a Harlem classroom. On May 1, 2006, John (age 22) signed with the St. Louis Rams of the NFL as an undrafted rookie free agent.

Quotes

Malcolm X: We didn't land on Plymouth Rock. Plymouth Rock landed on us!
Malcolm X: We had the best organization a black man's ever had. Niggers ruined it.
Malcolm X: You're not an American, you're the victim of America.

External links

[}}}] at Rotten Tomatoes

Films directed by Spike Lee

' • She's Gotta Have It • School Daze • Do the Right Thing • Mo' Better Blues • Jungle Fever • Malcolm X • Crooklyn • Clockers • Girl 6 • Get on the Bus • 4 Little Girls • He Got Game • Freak • Summer of Sam • The Original Kings of Comedy • Bamboozled • A Huey P. Newton Story • ' • Sucker Free City • 25th Hour • She Hate Me • Inside Man • When the Levees Broke

From Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia. Original article here. Support Wikipedia by contributing or donating.
All text is available under the terms of the GNU Free Documentation License See Wikipedia Copyrights for details.