In the early 1990s, “Marketing Black” was very important in America. The biggest brand in the world was a Black man…Michael Jordan. One important figure in the marketing of Black America was, without a doubt, Spike Lee. Spike had gone from indie filmmaker to voice of the people in the span of 5 films. In November of 1992, one film made an impact that is largely felt still today.
Spike Lee and Warner Brothers released “X”, a biographical film about the life of Malcolm X. Until this point, movies with Black males in leading heroic roles were rare. They didn’t cost hundreds of millions of dollars. And they were definitely not about leading figures in the Nation Of Islam.
In 1992, the movies stopped for a minute. And Black men got on.
The story:
We meet Malcolm Little, whose father was lynched and whose mother had gone insane. Malcolm grows up and gets a job as a Pullman porter on trains. He arrives in New York, changes his name to Detroit Red, and starts running numbers. After a, shall we say, disagreement with the boss, West Indian Archie, Malcolm flees to Boston and starts a small bumbling burglary gang. They are caught. He and his best friend, Shorty, are both sentenced to prison for ten years.
While in prison, Malcolm learns to read and discovers Islam through another inmate. He joins the Nation of Islam, meets The Honorable Elijah Muhammad, and quickly becomes one of the most outspoken leaders of the civil rights era.
After his trip to Mecca, where he meets Muslims of many races, his views evolve, and he adopts a more inclusive outlook on civil rights. He leaves the Nation Of Islam, and is soon after — assassinated.
The cast:
No disrespect to Antoine Fuqua or Jonathan Demme, but this is where we see Denzel Washington’s greatest range as an actor. What aspiring actor isn’t absolutely inspired by the legend that Denzel changed his diet and performed salat (muslim prayer) while they shot this movie? He could barely hold a bad Jamaican accent in “The Mighty Quinn”, but in this film, he captures every nuance and vocal quirk of El Hajj Malik El Shabazz. Denzel completely became this role, and gives a performance that we hadn’t seen before, and in many cases, we haven’t seen since.
Angela Bassett’s performance as Betty Shabazz is great, and is one of the reasons she is still cast as every famous Black woman in the history of the world. Every director wants to get the Betty Shabazz performance! But there are two performance that go largely un-discussed, and it’s a shame. So we’re going to discuss them now. Delroy Lindo KILLS in this movie. You totally feel for “West Indian Archie” by the end of this movie. Delroy Lindo is one of the most under appreciated actors in this business. He makes every role look effortless. In world that is now starting to appreciate Don Cheadle, we need to get up and say something about Delroy Lindo. Now, that being said. The role of “Baines” is very important in this film, and so the flawless performance by Albert P. Hall is crucial. It makes one wonder, in hindsight, if Hall wouldn’t have been a better call for Morgan Freeman’s role in “The Shawshank Redemption”. The scenes written around Malcolm’s time in jail are not great lines for Hall, these are meant to be breakout scenes for Denzel…but Hall commands the scenes nonetheless.
This is an important movie in Black history because it’s about an historical figure, but also, it’s one of the first few epic sized pictures with a Black cast and director.
You could call this movie our generations “Apocolypse Now”, with the going over-budget, the exotic locations, the attention to detail in scenes…and the great performances.
Be the time we see Nelson Mandela in the end…you either hate what Malcolm stood for, or you understand it and agree. But one thing’s for sure…you know the story.
Malcolm X gets you, the viewer, invested. YOU go through all of this. You rob houses. You conk your hair. You re-learn to read. And you lead a crowd of well dressed men outside a New York City police station. Whatever wrong you’re doing in real life, for 202 minutes, you are Malcolm X.
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