BlacKkKlansman

Spike Lee's Grand Prix winning dramedy has a very serious message, and that ending was a gut punch and stark, brutal reminder that reality is shockingly really not that far from fiction. Lee effectively used a blend of comedy to highlight the truth of racism and used history to illuminate the sins of the present. The dramatic beats - especially two scenes of speechifying - could be a heavy handed but on hindsight, it was necessary, because otherwise many people (read: movie-goers) may never actually hear/be aware of them.

Without knowing the real story of Ron Stallworth - who wrote the book this film is based on - I cannot comment how accurate were the depiction of the events shown in the film, however, the crux of the message did get through. But beyond the obvious, Lee also used the film to highlight that passive inertness can be as guilty as overt racism. We - the audience - allowed racism to be. And that is a powerful message that could make the film uncomfortable to some.

On a cinematic-level, the film was an effective blend of cop drama and buddy comedy with both stars John David Washington and Adam Driver taking turns bringing the laughs, with the latter more through his deadpanned delivery and the former with a broader comedy. However, Lee failed to inject more of a danger to the main plot, to raise the stakes for our protagonists. Other than the initial phase of the operation, there was barely any doubt that they will fail to foil the KKK.

Speaking of "the organisation", Topher Grace, Ryan Eggold and Jasper Pääkkönen deserve praise for bringing their despised characters to life.

Unfortunately, this film failed the Bechdel Test and the sisters only had one representative in Laura Harrier, who other than being the mouthpiece of the Black Movement and the love interest of Washington, had nothing much else to do.

This was an important film. And like aforementioned, the ending was a gut-punch. It needs to be watched.

This was also a good film. Not without it flaw but we definitely need more films like this to reach out to the masses.