
Sign up to save your podcasts
Or


Spike Lee’s new BLACKKKLANSMAN is an urgent call to look to the past to understand the present, an approach it shares with many of Lee’s films, though perhaps none as strongly as his 1992 epic biopic MALCOLM X. The films revisit two different chapters in 20th-century history, and star two different members of the Washington family — Denzel and his son, John David — but both are pure Lee in both their narrative motivations and their filmmaking technique. In this half, we consider what makes MALCOLM X the rare cradle-to-grave biopic that works, how Lee finds the dynamism in near-constant speechmaking, and whether Angela Bassett elevates a thankless role, or simply channels its innate nuance. Plus, some feedback asking our two less confrontational co-hosts to step up with their unpopular opinions.
Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about MALCOLM X, BLACKKKLANSMAN, or both by sending an email to [email protected], or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730.
Outro Music: Sam Cooke, “A Change Is Gonna Come”
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices
By Genevieve Koski, Keith Phipps, Tasha Robinson & Scott Tobias4.6
782782 ratings
Spike Lee’s new BLACKKKLANSMAN is an urgent call to look to the past to understand the present, an approach it shares with many of Lee’s films, though perhaps none as strongly as his 1992 epic biopic MALCOLM X. The films revisit two different chapters in 20th-century history, and star two different members of the Washington family — Denzel and his son, John David — but both are pure Lee in both their narrative motivations and their filmmaking technique. In this half, we consider what makes MALCOLM X the rare cradle-to-grave biopic that works, how Lee finds the dynamism in near-constant speechmaking, and whether Angela Bassett elevates a thankless role, or simply channels its innate nuance. Plus, some feedback asking our two less confrontational co-hosts to step up with their unpopular opinions.
Please share your comments, thoughts, and questions about MALCOLM X, BLACKKKLANSMAN, or both by sending an email to [email protected], or leaving a short voicemail at (773) 234-9730.
Outro Music: Sam Cooke, “A Change Is Gonna Come”
Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

3,951 Listeners

3,581 Listeners

999 Listeners

494 Listeners

250 Listeners

607 Listeners

6,142 Listeners

677 Listeners

870 Listeners

4,727 Listeners

518 Listeners

5,629 Listeners

556 Listeners

1,161 Listeners

120 Listeners