Malcolm X (documentary)

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Movie
Original title Malcolm X
Country of production United States
original language English
Publishing year 1972
length 91 minutes
Rod
Director Arnold Perl
script Alex Haley
Arnold Perl
production Mick Benderoth
Nancy Reals Perl
Marvin Worth

Malcolm X is an hour and a half long American documentary directed by Arnold Perl . The portrait depicts the radical black leader Malcolm Little (1925–1965), who became famous in the 1960s under the name Malcolm X and feared by the white establishment.

Malcolm X in March 1964

action

The partly black and white, partly colored film depicts with its documentary recordings the life and the political struggle of the black leader and civil rights activist Malcolm Little, known as Malcolm X. The documentary shows Malcolm's relentless commitment to the struggle for equality, but also his radical statements against the white majority of the population (“The devil is white”) in the United States. His encounters with prominent US blacks such as the boxer Muhammad Ali , the singer Ella Fitzgerald , the communist Angela Davis and the civil rights activist Jesse Jackson are also documented . Martin Luther King's comments after the assassination of Malcolm in February 1965 are also recorded.

Production notes

Malcolm X was composed from 1969 to 1971, cost about half a million dollars, and premiered on May 24, 1972. The film was not shown publicly in Germany.

The two black US actors James Earl Jones and Ossie Davis , who had known Malcolm X personally , act as off-speakers .

The film received a nomination for an Oscar in 1973 for Best Full-Length Documentary. Director Perl, who also took over the production management, had not lived to see the nomination; he died in 1971.

Malcolm X was released on DVD in 2006.

reception

The film is said to have received "enthusiastic reviews" at the premiere in 1972, as the Los Angeles Times recalled in 1992. Howard Thompson in the New York Times called Malcolm X "a well-rounded, often fascinating film," and William Hageman in the Chicago Tribune found this documentary to "do a better job of capturing those years" than, say, Spike Lee's 1991 theatrical film . And Jay Carr wrote, after comparing it with Lee's 1993 film, in a nutshell that the original Malcolm X was a "must-see".

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Malcolm X in Los Angeles Times, November 15, 1992
  2. ↑ Los Angeles Times, November 15, 1992
  3. ^ The New York Times, May 25, 1972
  4. ↑ Chicago Tribune, February 1, 2011

Web links