Canadian filmmaker Norman Jewison (In the Heat of the Night) was originally attached to direct this adaptation of Arthur Hailey’s biography, but when Spike Lee suggested in the media that a Black director should do it, Jewison and his producers took a meeting with the Do the Right Thing sensation and became convinced he was right. Denzel Washington — who had played Malcolm on stage ten years before and who had just made Mo Better Blues with Lee — was the ideal choice for the title role, and paints not only a precise portrait of the charismatic leader familiar from newsreels, but a layered, compassionate, conflicted man who finds the strength in Islam to transcend his demons and confront the inequity and racism in America. Lee insisted on an epic canvas and sought to emulate the scope he admired in the films of David Lean (Lawrence of Arabia; The Bridge on the River Kwai). He even hit up Black celebrities (Oprah, Prince, Michael Jordan) for donations when the budget ran out. His efforts and their faith were more than justified. The film stands as a powerful testament to the man and his times.
One of the great American films not only of the decade but the century… Spike Lee poured everything he had learned about cinema, politics, behavior and culture into one 201-minute Molotov cocktail of epic filmmaking. An eloquent and intimate character study as well as a sweeping portrait of America in the second half of the 20th century.
Jim Hemphill, Indiewire
Spike Lee’s Malcolm X is one of the great screen biographies, celebrating the whole sweep of an American life that began in sorrow and bottomed out on the streets and in prison before its hero reinvented himself. Watching the film, I understood more clearly how we do have the power to change our own lives, how fate doesn’t deal all of the cards. The film is inspirational and educational – and it is also entertaining.
Roger Ebert
Media Partner
Spike Lee
Denzel Washington, Spike Lee, Angela Bassett
USA
1992
English
Book Tickets
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Credits
Producer
Marvin Worth, Spike Lee
Screenwriter
Arnold Perl, Spike Lee
Cinematography
Ernest Dickerson
Editor
Barry Alexander Brown
Original Music
Terence Blanchard
Production Design
Wynn Thomas
Art Director
Tom Warren
90s, Baby!
Ten years. 11 weeks. 90 films from the 1990s. This summer, 90’s Baby! takes a deep dive into a defining decade of cinema.
Lessons of Darkness
Werner Herzog's unforgettable documentary reveals the unfolding disaster of the Kuwaitian oil fields in flames in 1991 as a sweeping inferno of mesmerizing power.
Beau Travail
Inspired by Herman Melville's Billy Budd, Claire Denis' transfixing Beau Travail is set in East Africa. Sgt Galoup (Denis Lavant) reflects on his time in the French Foreign Legion, and the impact of the handsome Sentain (Gregoire Colin).
Three Kings
George Clooney headlines David O Russell's bold, brazen attempt to get to grips with the immediate aftermath of Operation Desert Storm, as 4 US soldiers try to liberate a missing shipment of gold amidst the chaos and carnage.
But I'm a Cheerleader
Megan (Natasha Lyonne) is the perfect All-American Girl, or so she thinks. That is until she’s shipped off to conversion therapy. This pitch black comedy is wrapped in a saccharine bow, featuring the icon herself, RuPaul, as a conversion counsellor.
Magnolia
This deeply personal 1999 California opus is ripe for rediscovery. Mapping the emotional traumas of half-a-dozen major characters as they crisscross the San Fernando Valley in search of either recognition or reconciliation, it's PTA's riskiest gamble.
Election
Tracy Flick (Reece Witherspoon) is running for Student President, but Mr. McAllister (Matthew Broderick) has other ideas... This remarkably sour millennial comedy from Alexander Payne (The Holdovers; Sideways; The Descendents) hits twice as hard today.
Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai
Ghost Dog (Forest Whitaker) is an assassin, but he's also an existential loner who adheres to his personal code. Despite the thriller trappings, this is really a lampoon of that genre, and a melancholy reverie for the cultural melting pot we call home.
The Straight Story
David Lynch goes a different direction in this linear Midwestern about a septuagenarian (Richard Farnsworth) who drives nearly 400km on a lawnmower to visit his ailing brother (Harry Dean Stanton).
90s Surprise Film
The 90s movie we have all been missing... Join us for a celebratory wake for this year's 90s, Baby series! What you will be seeing is top secret (no, not Top Secret!, that was 1984) but it will be at least 26 years old and it will be new to this series.
The Wind Will Carry Us
Kiarostami's dry comic masterpiece follows a Tehrani film team's thwarted attempts to document a traditional Kurdish funeral... Trouble being, there's no one to bury, and, worse, virtually no cell service...
Fight Club
1999 was a very good year for movies, but nothing captured millennial angst quite so vividly as David Fincher's bruising black comedy about what it means to be a man today. This modern classic does everything short of rattling your seat to get a reaction.