With the Academy Awards less than a week away(!), I thought I would offer you all a special double feature of BP nominees today. Let’s first look at the Queen biopic, Bohemian Rhapsody, a film that seems to have polarized critics: either they really love it, or they absolutely abhor it (sounds a bit like how critics originally reacted to Queen’s music…). After that, we’ll check out Spike Lee’s BlackkKlansman, based on the true story of Ron Stallworth, the first African-American detective in the Colorado Springs Police Department.
Bohemian Rhapsody
Personally, after viewing Bohemian Rhapsody, I can’t get enough of Queen’s music; and I totally loved this film. It has depth, the acting is superb, and the plot is engaging. The climax of the movie, Queen’s 1985 Live Aid performance, is so gripping that I couldn’t look away for a second. It was like I was there at the concert, singing along to “We Are the Champions” with the rest of the masses. Somehow this film manages to convey both the incredible loneliness of one extraordinarily talented but troubled man and the uncanny ability of Freddie Mercury and Queen to unite their audience and make them a part of their family. Incredible. Does the film skip over major aspects of Queen’s development and song-writing process? Sure. It’s only a two-hour film, after all. Is Freddie Mercury’s inner turmoil (sexual and otherwise) perhaps a bit inaccurately portrayed? Maybe. But that is the risk taken by every film that chronicles a true story and attempts to capture a deceased person’s thoughts and feelings. Those who knew Freddie best, namely his former bandmates Brian May and Roger Taylor, were very involved in the making of this film; and their presence at award shows like the SAGs a few weeks ago is an indication that they have given their blessing to this film, which makes it probably the best glimpse we are going to get into who Freddie Mercury was. In short, is Bohemian Rhapsody a perfect movie? No, but maybe the extreme disparity among critics regarding its quality is only an indication that this film is a great one, for great films generate discussion, and a lot of people are certainly talking about this one.
Why This Film Might Win BP:
As the winner of the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture – Drama, Bohemian Rhapsody has a good shot at the Academy’s highest honor. Rami Malek, who plays Freddie Mercury, should be a winner for Best Actor as well. Along with Malek, the rest of the ensemble of Bohemian Rhapsody deliver solid performances. The sound and editing are very nice, and I feel that the story moves brilliantly through the micro and macro levels, alternating between the torment of Freddie’s mind/personal life and his larger-than-life rock star/performer persona. Furthermore, throughout it all, the film seems to say that all of us are responsible for the choices we make about where we go and what we do and for our decisions about who we surround ourselves with and who we trust. Freddie becomes human, personal, relatable as he tragically deals with the consequences of his actions–a fact which doesn’t take away from his genius as a songwriter or performer. Likewise, we viewers can also be challenged to inspect our lives and consider our choices. I like a film that leads me to examine my thoughts, feelings, and habits–and Academy voters might as well.
Why This Film Might Not Win BP:
It’s been a little while now since the Golden Globes, and the two Best Motion Picture winners, Green Book for Musical/Comedy and Bohemian Rhapsody for Drama, have both seemed to have lost some momentum going into the Academy Awards show, which I think is very unfortunate. That being said, if Academy voters want to steer clear of the racial agendas of many of this year’s other nominees, Bohemian Rhapsody would be an excellent choice. Still, the racial element is “in” right now, and the odds are a bit against Bohemian Rhapsody in that respect. It is also completely feasible that Academy voters have listened overmuch to the negative feedback about this film and will bypass it on Sunday.
BlackkKlansman
BlackkKlansman sort of seems to have sneaked into the Best Picture race. A lot of people would have rather seen If Beale Street Could Talk earn a nod for BP–but who knows what the Academy is really up to this year. They seem to constantly be sabotaging themselves these days, what with trying to create a new category just for Black Panther and then causing an uproar when they announced last week that some of the Oscar categories won’t be televised Sunday night (they have since reversed this decision, but how much damage did it do to the Academy’s image?). Anyhow, I digress.
Unlike much of the rest of the movie-loving world, I have very little love for Spike Lee. My dislike for him stems from when I was a kid. I was a huge Indiana Pacers fan, and Spike is a New York Knicks fan–a very loud and obnoxious one. For those who followed (or, like me, were obsessed with) the NBA in the 1990s, you know that the rivalry between the Pacers and the Knicks was nasty (but entertaining!). Spike always had a front-row seat for the action in Madison Square Garden; and he was especially irritating when the Pacers came to town, which got under the skin of my favorite player, now-Hall-of-Famer (that’s for you, Spike) Reggie Miller. I would like to think that Reggie got the best of the little war of words he had going with Spike, but we Pacers fans are still waiting for an NBA championship–while Spike might get an Oscar on Sunday. I still love you, Reggie.
My personal animosity toward Spike Lee aside, I did like this film, for the most part. BlackkKlansman presents a very interesting story, boasts good acting, and was actually rather funny at times (which was refreshing for a change). That being said, the language was pretty raunchy at parts, and this film has the most racially charged agenda of any of the BP nominees this year. If it had simply stuck to the story of Ron Stallworth infiltrating the KKK in Colorado Springs, it would have been a great film; but it not very subtly attacks current political issues (and politicians) in an obviously left-wing, pro-Democrat way. Okay, let me be blunt. There’s one line in particular that discusses making America great again. I wonder whom that might be targeting…Plus, the end of the film contains actual footage from the 2017 Charlottesville, Virginia, white supremacist rally during which people were mowed down with cars and about which President Trump really had nothing appropriate to say.
The problem with a film like this is that it undermines what it professes to try to accomplish. We will never improve race relations–or our struggling country, for that matter–if we play the blame game. BlackkKlansman attempts to redress racial wrongs by promoting its own skewed sense of justice and right. One disturbing scene in the film shows Klan members and their wives raucously enjoying a showing of The Birth of a Nation, a 1915 silent film that is outrageously racist. The Klan scenes alternate with scenes of an elderly African-American man telling a room of younger African Americans the story of the lynching of one of his boyhood friends. While this section of the film is very powerful, what it really does is put us all in boxes again: white persecutors or black freedom fighters. This is not helpful for racial reconciliation.
Why This Film Might Win BP:
It is a good story, and the script is quite clever at parts. I would not be surprised at all to see BlackkKlansman take home an Oscar for Writing (Adapted Screenplay) or for Directing for Spike Lee, an award that many feel is overdue and one that would make him the first African-American director to be so honored. Nonetheless, I think it is a bit of a stretch to predict BlackkKlansman as the next BP winner, but it does address current issues and is certainly memorable.
Why This Film Might Not Win BP:
As you can probably tell from the above discussion, BlackkKlansman‘s story gets lost in its political and social agenda. The actual footage at the close of the film, while moving and upsetting, takes away from the plot, in my mind. The deliberately anti-Republican/Trump perspective of the movie’s makers is obvious and unnecessary. What they seem to have forgotten is that racism is a choice that is made by individuals and that stems from the evil within each member of the human race. In that vein and in contrast to Green Book, I think BlackkKlansman falls far short. What Green Book tells all Americans in a lovely and uplifting way, Spike Lee’s film screams in ugly profanity to the people for whom he doesn’t feel any fondness. Last time I checked, to truly make America great again, we’re going to need all the people to work together for change, one that will only come about through love and forgiveness, not hatred and poisonous political rhetoric.