On February 21, 1965, the world lost one of its great leaders. The man known as Malcolm X was assassinated. After over two decades, prominent African American director Spike Lee took on the task of putting the life of Malcolm X on the big screen, in his 1992 film Malcolm X. Featuring Denzel Washington as Malcolm X, this film follows the life of a teenage Malcolm to his time in prison and then to his eventual assassination in 1965. This film uses many film techniques to not only set the piece in the correct time, but also to create a feeling of helplessness in the scene leading up to Malcolm’s assassination. The combination of the techniques is a scene that truly captivates audiences and leaves them with a feeling of sorrow for Malcolm X.
As the events of the film are documented history, Spike Lee had to use aspects of visual design to create a period piece that would stand up to critique by the audiences who lived through the Civil Rights Era. Although this seems like a no brainer for any director that is doing a historical type film, what truly makes this film astonishing is the way that Lee uses the racial tensions of the time as a way to make the audience unsure of how to feel, creating intrigue and the same uneasiness that many faced during the 60’s. The uneasiness sets this film above other similar films of the same period and is a true testament to Lee’s ability as a director. However, an almost overlooked part of the film is use of predominantly white, black and gray. The color use speaks once more to the time period of the film as opinions ranged from White supremacy to Back to Africa and any multitude of ideas in-between. For example, Malcolm is wearing a white shirt with a black tie and a gray jacket. He as the leader of this movement embodies all of the points of the Civil Rights Movement. In contrast, his body guards and the assassin (the man who gives his daughter the doll) wear very prominent black jackets. This choice in wardrobe signifies their very black and white view points for lack of a better word. However, the scene is not really as much about the time period as it is setting up the assassination of Malcolm X.
In order to set up one of the most climactic scenes in film, the assassination of a great leader, Malcolm X. Spike Lee masterfully uses his trademark double-dolly shot as well as many other elements of cinematic brilliance to create a feeling of impending doom. The Double-Dolly shot is a creative take on the regular dolly shot. This shot sets both camera and actor on two dollys that are connected, creating an ethereal, floating effect of the actor on the dolly. This technique is executed in the scene to create a feeling that Malcolm is being “pushed” to his death, an inevitable part of life. This sense of doom in magnified when the woman says to Malcolm, “I’ll pray for you son.” Lee’s use of his signature shot was the only appearance that it made in the film, which only serves to add to the importance of its use as well as the significance of the scene. Another thing that adds to the helplessness of the scene is the use of the Over-the-Shoulder Shot. This particular shot is where the camera is positioned so the shoulder can be seen as well as what the actor is looking at. Towards the end of the scene, Malcolm is talking to the woman and the camera switches from an Over-the-Shoulder Shot over Malcolm’s shoulder and the woman’s shoulder. This shot removes us from the characters perspective and gives us the role of a bystander. Lee takes advantage of the attachment to Malcolm that has been developed over the course of the film to make us feel removed, and in a sense, helpless to stop him from going on the way to his death.
Spike Lee uses a variety of editing techniques to build to the assassination in this scene. In the portion of the scene where his daughter drops her doll the camera stays on the gentleman who picked the doll up as he goes from a smile to a neutral/displeased look. Unknown to the audience this man is one of the assassins sent to kill Malcolm. However, it is not a complete shock as Lee chose to focus on his facial expressions longer than he appeared to be significant in the scene. This creates a subconscious feeling of disdain for the man in the audience that is not realized until after he rises and kills Malcolm X. Lee also pans on several of the longer takes that show his family in a car going to the ballroom where Malcolm will be speaking. This panning technique draws our attention to the family and shows them in a light that all people can relate to with the mother chastising the daughter about her posture. This connection although subtle, makes the emotional character of the scene higher, building the emotional distress of Malcolm heading to his death. The pacing of the scene is very methodical and creates this retrospective feel. This makes sense as when one knows they are going to die they ponder their life and all the actions of their past. The long takes on Malcolm driving, especially the one where you can see the trees and clouds on the windshield, truly exemplify the somber feel of the scene.
The culmination of the several film techniques analyzed as well as the numerous other subtle things director Spike Lee used in the scene create an almost perfect scene. The scene creates an emotion and makes sure that you feel it creating an atmosphere that is unavoidable to the audience. Lee takes a historical event and makes you feel helpless to stop it. Even though you know that nothing can change the past events being depicted. This scene truly exemplifies the characteristics of mise en scene as they're intended to be used.
No comments:
Post a Comment