Summer of Spike: Malcolm X

A review by Azzam Abdur-Rahmann

Malcom X

I rewrote this review about thirty times over the course of this month. It was borderline impossible to write because while brother Malcom himself was highly influential in my life this film exists in a dark space for me. Malcom X is one of the few figures in our history who wrote his own way. His autobiography should be required reading for all humans but this film drives me crazy. It runs the plot of Malcom autobiography to his death as any other bio-pic would but something about it has rubbed me the wrong way my whole life.

And that is why writing this has been so freaking hard, how do you explain a feeling that is built on a connection developed by your religious and ethic foot print? One that feels so strange to even attempt to verbalize. When I was a kid it was Denzel who a disliked. Denzel is one of the strongest actors to ever walk the face of this planet but he is not Malcom X. He does not make angry and ready for violence. Playing Malcom means you have to create the same feelings and Denzel has always had the energy of an MLK. Someone who is seen as the perfect black actor who bridges the gap between white and black audiences. Denzel has always felt odd to me. Maybe, it was the films view of Islam in the eyes of the African American experience. While the Nation of Islam is important historically it is hard to understand the organization and what it means to Malcom as he finds himself as a civil rights leader. I felt confused and frustrated the whole time as a kid and as a man. Islam role in the civil rights movement has become all but erased due to racism and until he goes to Mecca Islam feels like set dressing in the film from a personal perspective. 

Maybe it is Spike himself who at this point is on a whole roll as a director doing whatever it takes to make this film personal in a way that maybe he wasn’t ready for as a director. Bio-pics are challenging and require lot of you. Spike may have had his hubris get the best of him.

For now this feels like a piece of media I will always fight with. An entry level view of Malcom X that will always feel imperfect for someone who painted my existence in a way that cannot be undone.