spoilers

last week i gave my parents film options & it came between this film & Robin Hood 2018. We watched Robin Hood on the premise that mama didnt want to watch this & shes doing a zoom girly night. So it is now her Zoom night so me & pops are watching this.

Hes not seen it before & ive not seen it since i saw it in the cinema. So im looking forward to seeing it again & seeing how it feels now especially after the last year & the Black Live Matter movement. I think its going to be even more shocking.

I am sticking to my original opinion here & saying that Baldwin with his Cameo in the first 5 minutes of the film being completely wrong in what he says & being an embarrassment in his attitudes is the perfect way to start this film & he completely steels the show & nails it. As much of the rest of the film is shocking & hurtful & powerful this little introduction just shakes you to the core & you do sit there & go oh god were starting like this, wow. Its fantastic.

& that is echoed at the end of the film where it shows the clips from the guy running people over at a protest a couple of years ago & that America then hadnt learnt its lesson & even now it hasnt. It the perfect way to show you that this isnt just a film this is happening every day in the world in almost every country & its needs to stop & there needs to be equality for all. Saying this as a White English Person who now owns her own property probably is to privileged a position to say this from compare to others, but as a woman who still calls friends or family to say shes on her way home or is safe after a night out, i know some fear. Not like this i know but still. The world needs equality in race gender sexuality & beliefs & the sooner we can a planet we can get to that the better.

John David Washington is brilliant as Ron Stallworth. He really is, you can see his inner battles & the fact he has so much to do despite not being the person actually undercover is amazing. His inner Battles with being the first black cop, then setting it all up & then doing what he can to save his partner & then his relationship with his on off girlfriend who hates the police is so clever to watch & see it unfold. Its a well rounded character & individual which just is amazing to see, & he go on a journey in all of his different lifes & personas.

Its also so interesting at the end when they go to arrest him when all the shit goes down as hes just an under cover cop in normal clothes with a white woman screaming at him, it takes everyone elses arrival & the explosion for him to get his freedom. What an explosion tho proper suspense there.

Adam Driver deserved his Oscar nod for this film. He properly is being two faced about it all & really standing up to everything & playing both the parts so well. The fact that hes got to pretend to be Ron, & get inducted into the klan & that hes Jewish is madness but its so compelling especially when he has to be so with them on everything, i mean no wonder they were suspicious. Brilliant acting.

All the meetings everyone goes to be in at the klan, at the house, at the university or the union are so tense & every single one you sit there & go omg this really happens especially when the old guy gives his speech when the Klan inductions are happening. Your sitting there watching the Klan celebrate everything thats wrong in the world, while hearing this story about a guy who was murdered horrifically which just makes you feel sick to your stomach. Perfectly balanced with the Ying & the Yang, so powerful & really does make you think.

The funniest bit of the film are the phone calls to the klan from the police department & then the grand master as well, especially at the end when they out him & say who he has really been talking too. Just how it makes them all smile & the penny just drops. But then when you see that Cross burn on the hill opposite his house as a message is bloody scary & proves the point that they unfortunately always get the last say.

It was good to show that police man get his comeuppance too, i though he was going to get away with it too & that was going to show one of the injustices that happens in the system, but it was a nice twist to see him lose it all as well.

Its just such a powerful message of a film, which you watch for the story but you watch it to learn & to educate yourself on how bad these people are & how this needs to be stopped & everyone deserves equality. Its a very hard watch at time but you come out of it a better person & with so much more of an understanding of it all.

Spike Lee just hit the nail right on the head with this film & got it right in every respect, its just a shame that this is all still going on in the world now.