Malcolm X

Malcolm X was one of the most controversial American political figures. Based on Alex Haley’s “The Autobiography of Malcolm X”. It is a landmark film in that it has an African-American as the hero of a Hollywood epic. Malcolm X was initially a small-time crim who converted to Islam and became a central figure in the the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. A passionate and dynamic speaker, his vehement condemnation of race relations fightened and incensed many white Americans. The film faithfully follows Malcolm X’s life: his poor childhood and violent early adulthood, his prison years, his involvement in the Nation of Islam and the Civil Rights Movement, and the lead-up to his assassination. Though a long film of the epic genre, Spike Lee’s direction is colourful and well-paced, and some of the sequences are dazzling, including the pilgrimmage to Mecca. Spike Lee was the first Western filmmaker allowed to film in the Holy City. “Malcolm X” reclaims, with passion and dignity, the life of a controversial but inspiring man. Denzel Washington plays Malcolm X and Angela Bassett plays his wife. Cast alson includes Al Freeman Jr, Albert Hall, Delroy Lindo.