Malcolm X (film)
Malcolm X is an American drama film directed by Spike Lee in 1992. It is about the life and death of the Black Muslim leader Malcolm X , who became a preacher for the Nation of Islam organization in the 1940s after a career as a gangster becomes. The basis for the film plot was the book The Autobiography of Malcolm X by Alex Haley .
action
Known as Malcolm X, the black civil rights activist was born Malcolm Little in Detroit. His father Earl Little, a priest , is tyrannized by the racist Ku Klux Klan and later murdered by the Black Legion. After the youth welfare office took the children away from his mother and distributed them to different families, she was admitted to a mental hospital. Malcolm grows up in a foster family and learns at school that certain jobs are out of the question for him as a black, even though he is top of the class. The teacher tells him that as a "nigger" he should submit to his fate. He later works as a waiter on the train as a so-called “Pullman Porter” and calls himself “Detroit Red”. He moves to Harlem and befriends a gang boss named "West Indian Archie". Malcolm leads a lifestyle designed to mimic the whites. With very painful procedures, he has his hair straightened at the hairdresser's to look like a white man. He also consumes a lot of alcohol and cocaine. After a short time he clashes with West Indian Archie because of a dubious bet and has to flee from him to Boston. There Malcolm and his best friend Shorty stay afloat by stealing. Their white friends help them with this. Following a lead, the police show up and arrest them both. They are sentenced to ten years in prison , whereby it is not the thefts that weigh most, but the sexual intercourse with white women.
At Norfolk Prison Colony, Massachusetts, he is cocaine withdrawn. Since he is proud and rebellious, he first fights with the turnkey who punish him with dark imprisonment. Shortly after his admission, he met a black Muslim named Baines. Baines teaches him according to the guidelines of the “ Nation of Islam ”, an association of black Muslims in the USA. Malcolm becomes aware of his identity for the first time and thinks about his last name "Little", which was just the name of the slave owner of his ancestors. Baines convinces him that Malcolm should stop drugging his body, educate himself and respect himself. He should begin to question the values of the white man - as an example of this, the question is raised whether Jesus was white and blue-eyed. Malcolm changes and begins to form; he ceases to be ashamed of his black origins and drops the slave name Little. From then on he calls himself Malcolm X.
Malcolm, who was sentenced to eight to ten years, is released after six years in prison. After his release from prison Malcolm seeks the "Honorable Elijah Muhammad ", the leader of the organization. Malcolm is an avid student and soon became known as an engaging orator and was installed by Muhammad as the central spokesman for the organization. In the meantime he marries Betty Shabazz .
Malcolm advocates isolation from white society and a return to African values. His speeches are becoming increasingly radical and inflammatory, at the same time he works more and more. He becomes more and more dependent on the Nation of Islam, which also affects his family and his marriage. There is a falling out with Muhammad, whereupon Malcolm X publicly distances himself from the Nation of Islam. He goes on a pilgrimage to Mecca to find himself again. The experiences on the trip soften his convictions; he recognizes that Muslims come from all walks of life and societies, including white people. He begins to break away from the rigid attitude of the “Nation of Islam” and from racism and wants to stand up for cosmopolitanism , justice and freedom . However, his departure from his former allies is viewed as treason; he and his wife receive death threats and one night their house is set on fire. In addition, one of his colleagues confesses to him that he was assigned a murder assignment against Malcolm. A short time later, he was murdered by several assassins in a public address in the Audubon Ballroom in front of his wife and children.
At the end of the film, some original film recordings are shown about Malcolm X, the effects of his work to this day and statements from contemporaries like Martin Luther King . Shortly before the credits, Nelson Mandela quotes a speech by Malcolm X in front of a school class in which he appeals to human dignity.
background
- Malcolm X is the first non-documentary film that was allowed to be shot in Mecca .
- The film was shot in the East Jersey State Prison , among others .
- The opening credits show the Rodney King video that sparked the 1992 riots in Los Angeles .
- At the end of the film, the names of the three assassins by Malcolm X are listed.
- The scenes of the assassination attempt on President Kennedy come from the Oliver Stone film JFK - Tatort Dallas .
- Initially, Norman Jewison was to be the director. But Lee convinced the studio that only a black man could make a film about a black American.
- Film editor Barry Alexander Brown also acted as assistant director.
- The premiere in Germany was at the Berlin International Film Festival in February 1993.
- In 1972 Arnold Perl co-wrote a documentary about Malcolm X. Speakers were James Earl Jones and Ossie Davis . Davis is also the original speaker for the documentary footage at the end of the film.
- 1947 played with Jackie Robinson for the first time a black in Major League Baseball (MLB). Branch Rickey signed him for the Brooklyn Dodgers . This is briefly mentioned in the film.
- In one scene on the train, Malcolm and his colleagues hear a broadcast of a fight from Joe Louis .
- When West Indian visits Archie Malcolm X in a nightclub, Billie Holiday sings live at the club. She is portrayed by Miki Howard .
Reviews
Spike Lee's Malcolm X is one of the great screen biographies, celebrating the whole sweep of an American life that began in sorrow and bottomed out on the streets and in prison before its hero reinvented himself. Watching the film, I understood more clearly how we do have the power to change our own lives, how fate doesn't deal all of the cards. The film is inspirational and educational - and it is also entertaining, as movies must be before they can be anything else. [...] Spike Lee is not only one of the best filmmakers in America, but one of the most crucially important, because his films address the central subject of race. He doesn't use sentimentality or political cliches, but shows how his characters live, and why.
“Spike Lee's Malcolm X is one of the great biographies. It spans an American life that began at the bottom of the street and led to prison before the hero reinvented himself. When I saw the film, I understood more clearly that we have the power to change our lives and that fate does not hold all the cards in hand. The film is inspiring and educating - but also entertaining, what films should be first and foremost. Not only is Spike Lee one of the best filmmakers in America, he's extremely important as his films deal with the core aspect of race. He doesn't use sentimentality or political clichés, but shows how his characters live and why. "
“A long-winded 'political epic' staged without any actualizing social sharpness, which is more interested in creating legends than in a historically precise and psychologically differentiated portrait of a controversial personality in American history. At most by the pointed play of the main actor of some interest. "
Martin Scorsese and Roger Ebert both counted Malcolm X among the ten best films of the 1990s.
Awards
Nominations
- Best Actor : Denzel Washington
- Best costume design : Ruth E. Carter
nomination
- Best Actor - Drama : Denzel Washington
Berlin International Film Festival 1993
Award
- Silver Bear for Denzel Washington as Best Actor
nomination
- Golden Bear for Spike Lee
Chicago Film Critics Association Award 1992
- Best movie
- Best Director : Spike Lee
- Best Actor : Denzel Washington
Kansas City Film Critics Circle Award 1992
- Best Actor : Denzel Washington
New York Film Critics Circle 1992
- Best Actor : Denzel Washington
Boston Society of Film Critics Award 1992
- Best Actor : Denzel Washington
- One of the top ten films
NAACP Image Award 1994
- Best movie
- Best Actor : Denzel Washington
- Best Actress : Angela Bassett
- Best Supporting Actor : Al Freeman Jr.
Further awards
- 1992: Nomination for the Political Film Society Award in the Political Film Society Award for Exposé
- 1993: MTV Movie Awards for Denzel Washington for best actor
- 1993: Artios Award from the Casting Society of America for Robi Reed-Humes for best casting
- 1993: SEFCA Award from the Southeastern Film Critics Association for Denzel Washington for Best Actor
- 2010: Inclusion in the National Film Registry as an American film that is particularly worth preserving
synchronization
| role | actor | Voice actor |
|---|---|---|
| Malcolm X | Denzel Washington | Randolf Kronberg |
| Betty Shabazz | Angela Bassett | Traudel Haas |
| Baines | Albert Hall | Jürgen Kluckert |
| Elijah Muhammad | Al Freeman Jr. | Peter Matic |
| West Indian Archie | Delroy Lindo | Helmut Krauss |
| Shorty | Spike Lee | Uwe Paulsen |
| Sophia | Kate Vernon | Karin Buchholz |
| Brother earl | James McDaniel | Axel Lutter |
| Louise Little | Lonette McKee | Gertie Honeck |
| Earl Little | Tommy Hollis | Michael Chevalier |
| Chaplain Gill | Christopher Plummer | Wolfgang Völz |
| Benjamin 2X | Jean-Claude La Marre | Torsten Michaelis |
| Leon Davis | Leonard L. Thomas | Charles Rettinghaus |
literature
- Alex Haley (Ed.): Malcolm X: The Autobiography . Atlantik, Bremen 2000, ISBN 3-926529-14-8 .
- Britta Waldschmidt-Nelson: Martin Luther King / Malcolm X (opponent) . Fischer TB General Series, 2000, ISBN 3-596-14662-3 .
Web links
- Malcolm X in the Internet Movie Database (English)
- Malcolm X at rotten tomatoes (English)
Individual evidence
- ↑ release document for Malcolm X . Voluntary self-regulation of the film industry (PDF; test number: 69223 / V).
- ↑ Roger Ebert: Malcolm X . In: Chicago Sun-Times , Nov. 18, 1992.
- ^ Malcolm X. In: Lexicon of international film . Film service , accessed June 25, 2017 .
- ↑ See combustiblecelluloid.com (English)
- ↑ See hollywoodreporter.com (English)
- ↑ Malcolm X. In: synchronkartei.de. German synchronous index , accessed on June 25, 2017 .