Two Cents is a Cinapse original column akin to a book club for films. The Cinapse team curates the series and contribute their “two cents” using a maximum of 200-400 words. Guest contributors and comments are encouraged, as are suggestions for future picks. Join us as we share our two cents on films we love, films we are curious about, and films we believe merit some discussion. Would you like to be a guest contributor or programmer for an upcoming Two Cents entry? Simply watch along with us and/or send your pitches or 200-400 word reviews to cinapse.twocents@gmail.com.
The Pick: Malcolm X (1992)
We’re making our way through all of Spike Lee and Denzel Washington’s collaborations this month in celebration of their 5th and upcoming collaboration: Akira Kurosawa remake Highest 2 Lowest. One of the boldest and brightest American filmmaking voices of our generation, who has proven to be quite prolific and multi-talented, Spike Lee is a filmmaking force that can’t be ignored. And when he teams up with one of the greatest movie stars of our time or any other in Denzel Washington, cinephiles must take note.
With Malcolm X, Denzel secured an Oscar nomination for his remarkable performance in the 1992 collaboration. It’s a grand, sweeping, searing biopic that burns through its 3 hour and 22 minute runtime with energy and scope and scale that’s still felt deeply here in 2025.
The Team
Ed Travis
“That’s too much power for one man to have”
I’m particularly fascinated by a person on a journey.
Malcolm X is a hero of mine not only because of his radical advocacy for equal rights and the remarkable oratory he used to deliver his message. Those are incredible things that will forever etch him in our history and keep him forever salient in a society that has yet to make good on his radical vision. But what personally fascinates me about Malcolm X, and what is expertly explored in Spike Lee’s stunning and masterful 3.5 hour biopic on X is the attention to the ever changing journey this man was on, right up until he was violently taken from us by those threatened by his continued journey towards authenticity and truth.
Huge amounts of screen time are dedicated to earlier days, Malcolm Little days, in Lee and Arnold Perl’s screenplay (adapted from Alex Haley’s Autobiography Of Malcolm X). We’re shown an angry young man out of control, a gangster obsessed with the trappings of whiteness, from straightening his hair to being with white women. This is important in order to show the sincere and all-consuming religious conversion he experiences in prison. X’s embrace of the Nation Of Islam under the leadership of Elijah Muhammad is what propels him into the history books, but in a tragic and highly currently relevant turn of events, Muhammad turns out to be a cult-leader, a deeply flawed man who uses his power to take advantage of others. Even as Malcolm dug deeper into his journey as a Muslim, and a civil rights advocate, he found himself needing to sever all ties with the Nation. Anyone who has ever been forced out, or left of their own volition, from a faith community can identify with the courage X had to display to eschew comfort, connection, and power to seek truth and authenticity.
As the historical Malcolm X took a hajj to Mecca (and Lee’s crew was permitted the incredible honor to shoot on location there, providing unimaginable visual splendor to this masterwork), he began to uncover a new expression and understanding of his own faith and a broader expression of Islam out from under the cult-like elements of the Nation.
Malcolm X was committed to truth and authenticity, and his voice and message could not be dimmed or compromised. He was a brilliant and powerful Black man radically committed to Black flourishing. And that’s the kind of man our racist and morally compromised society couldn’t handle then, and can’t handle now. Lee’s unflinching depiction of this man’s life (not to mention Denzel Washington’s next-level Oscar-nominated performance) and tragically violent death boldly speak truth that was potent then, powerful in 1992 when the film was made, and downright prophetic today as we need authenticity now more than ever.
Julian Singleton
I came into Malcolm X with only a cursory knowledge of the man himself, conscious that what little I knew about Malcolm X’s story had been filtered through a secondary source or public image. Despite Lee’s provocatively empathetic reputation as a director, I was wary of how much Malcolm X would be reverential to its subject. Would Lee’s film be too dedicated to reaffirming the Malcolm I’d learned of in high school, or get to a deeper understanding of the man behind the incendiary speeches?
Of what I’ve seen of his filmography, Malcolm X is Lee at his most epic and unrestrained. The postwar, pre-Civil Rights East Coast is Lee’s cinematic playground : no expense is spared at recreating the past, with lavish production design and swarms of period-attired extras in every frame. At the same time, though, Lee refuses to outright romanticize the past, including frank depictions of the racism and class struggle Malcolm encounters during his childhood in Nebraska and his adulthood in New York and Boston’s criminal underworld.
Lee and lead Denzel Washington equally refuse to romanticize the man himself. Washington’s magnetic performance pivots Malcolm’s criminal endeavors into the last options of a man lost in the vices of the world after being denied any larger sense of purpose. Washington is effortlessly cool and possesses the same natural gravitas as Malcolm himself, while being simultaneously unafraid to showcase the baser parts of Malcolm’s nature.
Where Malcolm X truly excels is in the peak of Malcolm’s public recognition, as the man’s ideals begin to clash with that of the organization that first gave him direction. It’s fascinating to see such a figure like Malcolm in this kind of conflict, and Washington’s performance taps directly into a raw emotional doubt. In time, Malcolm’s forced to reckon with his own beliefs and actions taken up in the name of justice–and confronts both internal and external hypocrisy in order to become the leader everyone believes Malcolm to be.
As the film barrels towards the inevitable, Lee justifies Malcolm X’s epic form in employing his signature double dolly shot. Malcolm’s endured bigotry, hypocrisy, and all the blows and dangers this world can offer, [realizing that] for greater change to be possible, one must be wholly unafraid to change from within–and equally unafraid and loving of whatever forces may offer up resistance. Now, Malcolm heads towards his future finally resolute in who he is–both to himself and to others. It’s here that the twain finally meets between the man formerly known as Malcolm Little and the man future generations would immortalize as Malcolm X. It takes three hours and change for Lee to get to this moment — and damn if this tribute to Malcolm’s legacy doesn’t justify every preceding minute.
Malcolm X deftly navigates that wide gulf between personal identity and public image, providing illumination, criticism, and commemoration in equal measure. It’s an epic film about an equally epic man, denying hagiography in favor of a deeper, personal sense of reckoning between Malcolm X and the ideals he championed.
Extracted from Catching Up with the Classics – Malcolm X
Justin Harlan
I attended a Christian liberal arts college years ago. It’s where I met our fearless editor-in-chief Ed Travis, in fact. Since that time, my personal faith has changed and evolved a great deal, but there were several classes that laid a foundation for my yearning for peace, justice, and equity. One such class was a mandatory class titled “Justice in a Pluralistic Society” and the curriculum varied a good bit from professor to professor. I happened to be assigned to take the course with Reverend Dr. Nathan Coleman, a Black Baptist preacher and Civil Rights scholar. Dr. Coleman’s rendition of this class was centered a great deal on Malcolm and Martin. It left quite an impression on me.
My education in Malcolm, however, began even before college – as I was a diehard X-Men reader and watcher in my youth. Chris Claremont’s lengthy Uncanny run was heavily inspired by the stories and ideas of Malcolm and Martin, ingraining the person of Malcolm X in my psyche long before I ever realized it. And, while I credit punk rock and the life of Christ himself as the things that “radicalized” me, it would be foolish to deny the heavy influence of Malcolm X through Claremont’s X-Men and my class with Dr. Coleman had in my longheld desire to fight for justice.
Somehow, though, it took till last night before I finally dove into Spike Lee’s Malcolm X. Perhaps scared off by the length of the film, perhaps by the fact I generally have a distaste for period pieces – I simply never pressed play until after dinner yesterday. The film itself didn’t wow me as much as I’d hoped but revisiting the life of Malcolm in depth for the first time since I read the great autobiography he coauthored with Alex Haley did.
No matter how much I do or do not love the film, both in comparison to other films from Spike Lee or Denzel and in its style itself, it’s seemingly impossible for anyone who is actually paying attention not to be moved by the story of Malcolm Little’s transformation into el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz. A small time hustler who grew and transformed himself to become one of the most important figures in American history, Malcolm fought for his fellow black man when they needed it most. As he continued to grow, he began to understand humanity beyond colors and labels in a way that pushed those around him towards deeper understanding, as well. His strength and importance cannot be overstated.
I’m not sure this is a film I plan to revisit, especially not any time soon. Yet, it reminded me that people can be strong enough to overcome the powers and principalities of this world when they aren’t afraid to stand up, to open their mind, and to fight. In today’s world, it seems a lesson we all can use.
Austin Vashaw
What struck me first, immediately, about Malcolm X was its unexpected opening setting: Denzel and Spike as young men in flashy zoot suits. It’s not at all the image I have of the man, and to that end, I would learn, the young Malcolm was not the same man as who he became.
This approach sets up a few important elements, not only showing Malcolm’s journey from petty criminal to religious leader and civil rights figure (and the intense tumult in-between), but also providing the opportunity for Spike and his team to really dig into a sense of scope, recreating a secondary, older period setting that draws the viewer into Malcolm’s world.
Malcolm’s journey into crime, prison, assimilation into and falling out with the Nation of Islam group show a tremendous true story of both radicalization and true growth, providing insights into a deeply complex man coming into his own, realizing that white people aren’t the only ones ready to put him in shackles. A long runtime (over three hours) affords the subject the necessary focus and scope to tell this life story without charging through it.
A powerhouse film from the genius of not only Spike and Denzel, but also the always incredible Ernest Dickerson behind the camera doing some of his finest work, and amazing performances from supporting players like Delroy Lindo and Angela Bassett in key roles.
SPIKE X DENZEL
In honor of their latest collaboration, Highest 2 Lowest, the Cinapse team is celebrating one of American Cinema’s greatest collaborative teams: Spike Lee and Denzel Washington. Join us by contacting our team or emailing cinapse.twocents@gmail.com, and be sure to catch Highest 2 Lowest in theaters August 22nd from A24 and Apple!
8/18: He Got Game (Available on VOD)
8/25: Inside Man (Available on VOD)
And we’re out.
