“… the very first time I ever saw you standing up on the podium, you were cleaning your glasses, and I felt sorry for you. Because no one as young as you should be so serious…”
I think a lot about this line that Betty Shabazz (Angela Bassett) tells Malcolm (Denzel Washington) as they share a tender scene in Spike Lee’s 1992 masterpiece. It has always been the youth who have led revolutions. It breaks my heart that the generic image people have of Nelson Mandela is as an old man—you should have seen him in the prime of his youth! Alexander died at 32 after conquering the known world. Jesus himself died at 33. Fred Hampton was only 21 when he united every Chicago gang under one progressive banner. Martin Luther King died at 39. Malcolm also died at 39, just a few days shy of his 40th birthday. All these men looked and sounded way too young for their age, yet they achieved feats that would take me four lifetimes to accomplish.
What a life Malcolm lived! Born as Malcolm Little, his father was murdered by the KKK, and the state took him away from his mother. He got lost in the allure of glitz and glamour, eventually falling into organized crime. Caught and thrown in prison, he finally found direction and purpose. Malcolm left prison with a just cause; he found spirituality, which enabled him to embrace all people regardless of color or creed. Spike Lee captures all of this within three hours and thirty minutes, and I never felt the clock ticking. Every scene brims with relevant information, immersing me in Malcolm’s transformation. The film earns its nearly four-hour runtime because the “controversial” figure it portrays has a story worth telling for generations—a story most people likely never learned in history class or, if they did, was sanitized and whitewashed for easy digestion. We understand Malcolm’s journey on the physical, emotional, psychological, intellectual, and spiritual levels—a complete pyramid of self-actualization!
Never before has Denzel’s natural presence resonated more deeply with an audience. He had already played Malcolm in a 1981 off-Broadway play called When the Chickens Come Home to Roost. It’s in the way he looks and speaks, capturing with pitch-perfect accuracy the cadence of Malcolm’s real voice. Denzel clearly did the research to be as faithful to the real Malcolm X as possible, while embodying the screenplay’s nuanced portrayal. His preparation allowed him to be so fully present that Malcolm’s words flowed through him naturally, entwining the character’s thoughts and emotions with his own. It’s magical to watch the range of emotions he experiences—he’s electric, charismatic, commanding, captivating. He used these gifts to make people believe that change was going to come, by any means necessary.
Notice how reserved Denzel’s speech pattern and composure are when addressing a White audience; he subverts their expectations and makes them lower their guard. Now, observe whenever he speaks to the Nation of Islam crowd: he is bombastic, seemingly possessed, visceral, and cathartic. He was a leader from the start, and had his life not been marred by oppression and cut short by hate, he could have continued into mythical greatness. In one intense scene, a police officer even remarks, “That’s too much power for one man to have!”
Lee deconstructs the complicated legacy that history has painted of this emblematic figure. With a subtle approach to building a character that feels almost Shakespearean in scope, he’s crafted an essential biopic to honor and humanize someone misunderstood for over five decades. Spike assembled a killer team to match Denzel’s performance: Angela Bassett, Delroy Lindo, Christopher Plummer, Albert Hall, Giancarlo Esposito, Wendell Pierce, Ossie Davis, a young John David Washington, and Michael Imperioli. They even got Nelson Mandela himself, in what may be the most poignant cameo in the last 40 years!
This isn’t just a “movie”—it’s a tribute to a complex man. It’s not a plot but an odyssey. Malcolm X doesn’t merely play the greatest hits of its titular character as most biopics do. This is Lee making his own David Lean epic: a portrait of a man’s entire life set against the backdrop of America’s darkest decades. While Do The Right Thing, 25th Hour, BlacKkKlansman, and Da 5 Bloods are often cited as Spike Lee’s best, Malcolm X grows in strength each year. It’s undoubtedly the most important film in both Lee’s and Denzel’s careers. They seemed compelled to get the history right and pay tribute to a crucial revolutionary. This is a film that had to be made—and could only be made by these artists.
Give Spike’s magnum opus a shot. Grow with Brother Malcolm; unlearn and learn as he does. Follow Malcolm’s life as he reinvents himself—from conman to gangster to prisoner to zealot to leader to iconoclast to martyr—one of the greatest character arcs ever.
Mike’s love for films began when his dad introduced him to The Usual Suspects. From that moment on, he never looked back. Now, having explored thousands of films, he has mastered the art of unpeeling each facet gracefully. Mike especially loves writing movie reviews that are narratives in themselves, offering a unique perspective and depth you won’t find anywhere else. His insightful and captivating reviews bring each film to life, making him a standout voice in the world of cinema.