BlacKkKlansman
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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BlacKkKlansman is a 2018 American biographical comedy-drama film directed by Spike Lee and written by Charlie Wachtel, David Rabinowitz, Kevin Willmott, and Lee, based on the 2014 memoir Black Klansman by Ron Stallworth. The film stars John David Washington as Stallworth, along with Adam Driver, Laura Harrier, and Topher Grace. Set in 1970s Colorado Springs, the plot follows the first African-American detective in the Colorado Springs police department, who sets out to infiltrate and expose the local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan.
The film is produced by Lee, Raymond Mansfield, Shaun Redick, Sean McKittrick, Jason Blum, and Jordan Peele. Redick purchased the film rights to the book in 2015, and Lee signed on as director in September 2017. Much of the cast joined the following month, and filming began in New York State.
BlacKkKlansman premiered on May 14, 2018 at the Cannes Film Festival, where it competed for the Palme d'Or and won the Grand Prix. It was theatrically released in the United States on August 10, 2018, coinciding with the one-year anniversary of the white supremacist Unite the Right rally. The film received acclaim from critics, with many praising the performances (particularly of Washington and Driver) and timely themes, as well as noting it as a return to form for Lee.
The soundtrack was by Terence Blanchard.
Plot
In the early 1970s, Ron Stallworth is hired as the first black officer in the Colorado Springs, Colorado police department. Stallworth is initially assigned to work in the records room, where he faces racial slurs from his coworkers. Stallworth requests a transfer to go undercover, and is assigned to infiltrate a local rally at which national civil rights leader Kwame Ture is to give a speech. At the rally, Stallworth meets Patrice Dumas, the president of the black student union at Colorado College. While taking Ture to his hotel, Patrice is stopped by patrolman Andy Landers, a corrupt, racist officer in Stallworth's precinct, who threatens Ture and sexually assaults Patrice.
After the rally, Stallworth is reassigned to the intelligence division. While reading the paper, he finds an advertisement to join the Ku Klux Klan. Stallworth calls and pretends to be a white man, and speaks with Walter Breachway, the president of the Colorado Springs chapter. Stallworth recruits his Jewish coworker, Flip Zimmerman, to act as him in order to meet the Ku Klux Klan members in person. Zimmerman attends a meeting and meets Walter, along with the more radicalized member Felix Kendrickson. Zimmerman also speaks with another member named Ivanhoe, who cryptically refers to an upcoming attack.
Zimmerman and Stallworth continue to cultivate their relationship with the local Klan chapter. Calling Klan headquarters in Louisiana to expedite his membership, Stallworth speaks with David Duke, the Grand Wizard, with whom he begins regular conversations on the phone. Kendrickson makes Zimmerman take a "Jewish lie detector test" at gunpoint, but Stallworth throws a rock through the Kendrickson family window to distract everyone. Stallworth begins dating Patrice, but does not tell her that he is a police officer. After passing on information to the Army CID about active duty members, he learns from a meeting with an FBI agent that two of the chapter's members are military personnel stationed at NORAD headquarters.
Duke visits Colorado Springs for Stallworth's induction into the Klan; over the real Stallworth's protests, he is assigned to a protection detail for Duke. After Zimmerman, masquerading as Stallworth, is initiated, Felix's wife Connie leaves the ceremony to place a bomb at a civil rights rally. Stallworth realizes her intentions and alerts local police officers. Acting on Felix's backup plan, Connie tries to plant the bomb in Patrice's mailbox; finding that it will not fit, she leaves it under Patrice's car instead. Stallworth tackles her as she tries to flee, but uniformed officers detain and beat him over his protests that he is working undercover. Felix, Ivanhoe, and bomb maker Walker (who had recognized Zimmerman from a prior arrest and conviction) arrive and park next to Patrice's car. They set off the bomb, not knowing where Connie had hidden it, and are killed in the explosion. Zimmerman arrives and frees Stallworth, and Connie is arrested. While celebrating the closed case that night, Stallworth wears a hidden microphone and tricks a drunken Landers into bragging about his assault on Patrice; with the confession on tape, Landers is arrested.
Police Chief Bridges congratulates the team for their successful operation, but orders them to end it and keep all details from the public. As he is packing up, Stallworth receives one last call from Duke. Stallworth reveals to Duke that he is a black man before hanging up. Later, Patrice and Stallworth discuss their future together, only to be interrupted by a knock on the door. Through the window, they see a large flaming cross on a distant hillside surrounded by Klan members.
The film closes with footage from the 2017 Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, including footage of the white supremacists, David Duke giving a speech to the attendees, counter-protesters, the car attack, and President Trump's statements after the events. The film ends with a memorial to Heather Heyer, the car attack victim, and an upside-down American flag, which fades to black and white.
Cast
- John David Washington as Detective Ron Stallworth
- Adam Driver as Detective Flip Zimmerman
- Laura Harrier as Patrice Dumas
- Topher Grace as David Duke
- Jasper Pääkkönen as Felix Kendrickson
- Ryan Eggold as Walter Breachway
- Paul Walter Hauser as Ivanhoe
- Ashlie Atkinson as Connie Kendrickson
- Corey Hawkins as Kwame Ture
- Michael Buscemi as Jimmy Creek
- Ken Garito as Sergeant Trapp
- Robert John Burke as Chief Bridges
- Frederick Weller as Patrolman Andy Landers
- Nicholas Turturro as Walker
- Harry Belafonte as Jerome Turner
- Alec Baldwin as Dr. Kennebrew Beauregard
- Isiah Whitlock Jr. as Mr. Turrentine
- Craig muMs Grant as Jabbo
- Damaris Lewis as Odetta
See also
