Spike Lee's Malcolm X Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Spike Lee's Malcolm X - Essay Example Moreover, his life related events that comprise different aspects from his event filled life was going to get captivated within the framework of the reel life at a magnitude not witnessed by the audiences of Lee ever before. Within the insightful book Spike Lee: Interviews edited by Cynthia Fuchs in an article entitled â€Å"Our Film is Only a Starting Point: An Interview with Spike Lee† by Gary Crowdus and Dan Georgakas, Lee explained his theme behind making a film on the life of Malcolm X, â€Å"Lee explains his primary desire to introduce Malcolm X to young viewers and his awareness that the time limits of even a nearly three and a half hour movie prevented him from producing anything more than a ‘primer’ on one of the America’s most charismatic black leaders † (Fuchs 65). With the level of severe intensity and depth, Lee made a film on the life of a man whose real life events provided the director with enough prudent aspects to frame a complete m otion picture. Thesis Statement The essay intends to depict an introspection based analysis of the film Malcolm X in order to comprehend the inherent themes and the socio-political and religious messages that were meant to be provided by this bio-picture. Malcolm X: Introspection Malcolm X was a movie which included a number of famous personalities such as actors Denzel Washington as Malcolm X and Angela Bassett, Al Freeman, Jr., Albert Hall, and Delroy Lindo. Lee also appears on screen and plays a very small role in supporting as Shorty who is observed to be a real-life associate of Malcolm X. Shorty Jarvis is actually a criminal who has spent time working with Malcolm and is at the same time a jazz trumpeter. It is noteworthy to mention that characters important in the real life of Malcolm X such as Bobby Seale who was the co-establisher of the Black Panther Party, Al Sharpton the Reverent and the future president of South Africa Nelson Mandela, have virtual presence within the pl ot of the film. However, they do not make any cameo appearances. There are vivid hues, sounds and fury which represent the life of the great leader. It was quite hard on the part of the directorial crew to transcript all those events inherent in the real life of Malcolm X to get depicted in the reel phenomena in the course of making the film. The screenplay of Malcolm X, which was a collaborative effort on the part of Spike Lee and Arnold Perl, was drawn mostly from the life events of Malcolm X. These events were mentioned in the book written by Alex Haley and entitled The Autobiography of Malcolm X. The reason behind taking most of the references from this book is that Haley had begun to write this book during 1963. He eventually completed the book following the death of Malcolm X. However, while initiating the project he directly collaborated with Malcolm X himself to write the course of events and facts which constituted the life of the great leader. Furthemore, the book is compr ehensive and very cohesive in nature apart from being one of the most authentic ones because it ponders on the complete course of events which constitute Malcolm X’s life. The film possesses definite contents which are quite significant in terms of both cultural and historical aspects. At the same time, Malcolm X by Spike Lee is not a narrative on reels as it definitely has a strong aesthetic