Spike Lee’s career has had several hits and misses, but his standout film will always be Malcom X. This biopic of the late civil rights activist is perhaps one of the best biopics I have ever seen done and I have to agree with those who say that only Spike Lee could have done it this well. The film pulled no punches with its depiction of Malcom X and the circumstances of his life, the good and the bad, and showed just why he was and remains so important.
A major problem I have with most biopics is that they tend to end up as fluff pieces done by admirers, or hit pieces done by those who despise the figures. I feel that this would have happened here if the original intended director for the film, Norman Jewison, had remained on the project. Jewison is a good filmmaker in his own right, but he wouldn’t have truly understood the subject matter as much as someone like Spike Lee. Spike showed Malcom’s rise from his criminal past, to become a major activist for the Black American community and didn’t shy away from the fact that Malcom had done questionable things. However, that gave more weight to the good Malcom did and especially when it came to his time in Mecca and the impact it had on his worldview.
Some criticized Lee as being heavy-handed when it came to the impact of Malcom X’s legacy, but I disagree. Lee had spent the entire movie showing a very nuanced view and how one extreme can easily become just as bad as the other side, so a few minutes at the very end do not come off as a major issue to me. People often say they want balanced perspectives in storytelling and this film shows that spectacularly. I will even go so far as to say that this movie is a must see for anyone interested in not only film, but storytelling in general. It is the perfect example of telling a controversial figure’s story and being even handed about it. In the end, it had a very important message: You can kill a man, but you cannot kill an idea.