BlacKKKlansman (4½ Stars)

This is a thought-provoking film that's based on true events. The events portrayed actually took place in 1979, but the film has been set in 1972 for purposes of dramatisation.

Ron Stallworth becomes the first black police officer in Colorado Springs. After doing boring work in the records department he's given an undercover assignment. He's sent to listen to the speech of a former Black Panther leader hosted by the Black Student Union of Colorado High. Despite the extreme rhetoric about killing policemen he reports back that he doesn't find the speaker dangerous. It's all talk.

Shortly afterwards he makes a plan to infiltrate the local chapter of the Ku Klux Klan under his own initiative. He speaks to the local president on the phone, but he can't visit him in person, obviously. The infiltration becomes a two-man job. Ron makes the phone contact, while his colleague Phil Zimmerman – a Jew – takes his place in the personal meetings.

That's all I'll say about the story itself. What remains with me after seeing the film is the ugly nature of the racism expressed by the KKK members. I've seen films about racism before, but never one like this. The most disgusting racist statements are said in the most natural of ways, as if it's obvious that Jews and Negroes are inferior. I found it difficult to talk about the film with my friends afterwards. I was overwhelmed.

I only have one small criticism. "Birth of a Nation", of which excerpts are shown, isn't as bad as it's made out to be. Watch it for yourself and make up your own mind.

This is a film I really need to see again. I'll probably discuss it in more detail in my next review.