"BlackKkKlansman"

Much like "Green Book" this is a so-called comedy is set in a historical past depicting America's struggle with racism.  While I still took issue with a few things (like calling this a comedy) it was better than "Green Book".  Unlike "Green Book" the film is directed by black virtuoso director Spike Lee and focuses on the black experience through black eyes.  This is the presentational version of Spike Lee, who has a wide range of styles.  This particular film makes points through visuals and messaging rather than through characters.  During a Kwame Ture rally the scene melds into faces of the crowd, a kind of living tableau of beautiful blacks, echoing words of the speech, encouraging the audience to love themselves.  Recounting the story of Ron Stallworth, the first black police officer in Colorado Springs, this is supposedly a "true" tale.  Mr. Stallworth suffered through pretty overt racism in his department but eventually came across a case he could sink his teeth into -- monitoring the actions of the local Klan.  He did this by creating a phone relationship with the leaders of the group and sent a white officer in his place for face-to-face meetings (Adam Driver as Flip Zimmerman).  The laughs are meant to come from the behavior of the ridiculous, stupid Klansmen.  Again, like "Green Book" I found it hard to laugh.  After viewing the film, I wondered if Spike Lee was doing the same as Jordan Peele did last year with "Get Out" and using a non-dramatic format to make a point.  Getting folks to laugh at racism then showing the ugliness of racism may create in the viewer a paradoxical reflection, an inner dialogue.  Is this ever funny?  Right when you might be tempted to think these idiots can't get their act together on anything there is Harry Belafonte playing Jerome Turner, telling an achingly sad story of Jesse Washington, a man who was castrated, tortured and burned over the death of a white woman.  The movie is not subtle. It begins with a faux Alex Jones character and ends with actual footage of Charlottesville, right down to showing different angles of the assault that killed Heather Heyer, all of which is a way of yelling, rather than saying "GET IT?"  I don't disagree with the points but I struggled with the insistence that this is a TRUE story when, in fact, almost every major part of the narrative has been manipulated to make a point.  When books do that I really jump all over them.  I can't help but think there is so much overt racism in the U.S. that you really don't have to manipulate reality to see it, but then I look at President Ding Dong's response to Charlottesville (also in the film) and think, okay, yeah, people don't get it.  SPOILER ALERTS!!!!  Bottom line:  Truth.  Ron Stallworth was the first black police officer in Colorado Springs, he did face incredible racism, he did infiltrate the Klan and he did talk with David Duke on the phone.  Nearly everything else in the film (the time period, Dr. Kennebrew Beauregard, Patrice, Felix and Connie Hendrickson, Flip Zimmerman being Jewish, the Klan guys blowing anything up, calling David Duke to say "ha-ha you bastard") is all fiction.  What isn't fiction is that the investigation was shut down and covered up and that high-ranking military and government types were a part of the local Klan and didn't face repercussions for that until years later.  One of the final shots in the film, that of maybe (???) Adam Driver's character joining the Klan has become a big debate, leading to further examination of the film's meaning and racism.  Are we all racists, even those who are targeted by the Klan?  The movie made me think and in that sense it succeeded but this year's crop of socially relevant films shot wide, in my humble opinion, rather than directly at an easily defined target.