Spike Lee is a director who has contributed much to America Cinema throughout his rather long and varied career and even if you don't agree with his strong political and social beliefs you can't deny that his films have proved to be very influential.
Now I will review what I consider to be his most important film in terms of social and political factors, Malcolm X.
(I consider Do The Right Thing to be his most important film from a Cinematic point of view.)
Malcolm X was released in 1992, with a budget of about 33 million dollars and a gross revenue of about 48 million, so it can't really be considered a financial success, although I'm sure it made up for it's costs easily in the international release and the video market.
Denzel Washington stars as Malcolm X, Washington was a regular actor in Lee's films having appeared in 4 of his works.
The rest of the cast contains Angela Basset as Betty X and Spike Lee as Shorty.
It won 16 awards around the world including The Silver Bear for Best Actor (Washington) and was selected for preservation in the National Film Registry.
Malcolm X was one of the most controversial and, in my opinion, one of the most important figures of the past century.
Now, I am not Black but I must say that while watching this film and while reading the book it was based upon I felt very inspired and impressed by this great man.
But this isn't only a film with a powerful and important message, it is an extremely well made film with terrific performances.
