Malcom X

Review: A review I read recently summed it up as follows, "Malcolm X was a figure whose life no other director could have tackled but someone with the rage and the intelligence of Spike Lee". Lee is, possibly, the last filmmaker left alive who has the balls to pull off some of the scenes that he did in this film. For instance, the beginning of the film shows the actual Rodney King beating...in the next shot the American flag (taking up the entire screen) slowly begins to burn. Hey, if that doesn't grab you by your throat your not alive. The film shows many of Malcolm X's faults as well as his many strengths. Denzel Washington is phenomenol in the lead role, along with an extrordinary cast. Denzel Washington (Glory) received an oscar nomination that year along with Al Pacino (Scent of a Woman) and Robert Downey Jr (Chaplin). Recently film critic Roger Ebert and director Martin Scorsese (Taxi Driver, Last Temptation of Christ, Raging Bull) sat down and each picked their top ten movies of the nineties and Malcolm X was one of only two films that appeared on both of their lists. -Review by Aaron Caldwell