Product Description

Feared and revered malcom x crystallized the hopes and dreams of blacks demanding human rights for african americans during the racially tumultuous and divisive decades of this 1950s and 60s until his 1965 assassination in new york at the age of thirty nine. Studio: Warner Home Video Release Date: 02/08/2005 Starring: Denzel Washington Delroy Lindo Run time: 202 minutes Rating: Pg13 Director: Spike Lee

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #6611 in DVD
• Brand: Warner Brothers
• Released on: 2005-02-08
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 1.85:1
• Formats: AC-3, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD-Video, Special Edition, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish, French
• Dubbed in: French
• Number of discs: 2
• Dimensions: 1.00 pounds
• Running time: 202 minutes

Amazon.com essential video
Just as Do the Right Thing was the capstone of Spike Lee's earlier career, Malcolm X marked the next milestone in the filmmaker's artistic maturity. It seemed everything Lee had done up to that point was to prepare him for this epic biography of America's fiery civil-rights leader, who is superbly played by Oscar-nominated Denzel Washington, from his early days as a zoot-suited hustler known as "Detroit Red" to his spiritual maturity after his pilgrimage to Mecca, as a Black Muslim by the name of El Hajj Malik El Shabazz. Do the Right Thing climaxed with the photographic images of Malcolm X and Dr. Martin Luther King engulfed by flames of rage; Malcolm X explores the genesis and evolution of that rage over Malcolm's lifetime, and how these two great figures--held up to the public as polar-opposites within the African American human rights movement (King for nonviolent civil disobedience, Malcolm for achieving equality "by any means necessary")--were each essential to the agenda of the other. Lee careens from the hedonistic ebullience of Malcolm's early days to the stark despair of prison, from his life-changing conversion to Islam to his emergence as a dynamic political leader--all with an epic sweep and vitality that illuminates personal details as well as political ideology. Angela Bassett is also terrific as Malcolm's wife, Betty Shabazz. --Jim Emerson

DVD features
Along with the beautiful transfer and remastering on the new two-disc special edition of Spike Lee's ambitiously entertaining 1992 biopic Malcolm X, the special features are abundant if somewhat of a mixed bag. The best component is Arnold Perl's Oscar-nominated 1972 documentary, which is also titled Malcolm X (in fact, the final script of Lee's film was partly based on another script by Perl). Made up exclusively of brilliantly edited archival footage, it's no surprise that the events included mirror the story arc of Lee's version in many ways. Most of it is public-speaking newsreel footage of the charismatic activist, a lot of which ended up in Lee's script as verbatim dialogue spoken by Denzel Washington. The most astonishing thing about watching the older documentary is seeing just how precisely Washington nailed his characterization. He absolutely became Malcolm X not only in the physicality of every nuance, gesture, offhand finger wag, and facial expression, but also in the tone and tenor of voice and fierce passion that drove his subject's soul.

Less remarkable but far more impressive than the ordinary behind-the-scenes compilation feature included on most DVDs is a new documentary titled "By Any Means Necessary: The Making of Malcolm X." The star of this show is definitely Spike Lee, a controversial figure in his own right for the pugnacity that has always followed his career as a director. It's a worthwhile look at the production company's uphill battle against the studio, the extraordinary efforts that went into getting all the details of a period picture right, and the technical challenges the crew faced in bringing such painstaking detail to the screen with an artistic integrity that comes through in every frame. Lee's well-known ego gets an even greater forum in his rambling, long-winded, and downright boring introductions to a handful of insignificant deleted scenes. It's also odd that Lee's contribution to the commentary track is the least interesting. His observations are often along the lines of "I love this scene," or "Ooh, watch this!" Interspersed with Lee's "Spike Lee fan club" notes are reflections by cinematographer Ernest Dickerson, editor Barry Alexander, and costume designer Ruth Carter that dig a little deeper into the fine points of the production's logistics. In all, this Malcolm X special edition is a sensible upgrade, and thankfully not just for Spike Lee fans. --Ted Fry

From The New Yorker
There's a great deal of passion in Spike Lee's three-hour-and-twenty-minute adaptation of "The Autobiography of Malcolm X," but it's not an artist's passion; the responses Lee aims for are the clear, pedagogically effective ones rather than the disturbing, irresolvable ones that Malcom's own account evokes on almost every page. Malcolm, who achieved fame in the early sixties as a compelling spokesman for the black-pride philosophy of the Nation of Islam, is an unlikely hero for a big-studio prestige picture: he begins as a predatory street criminal, becomes a studious Muslim ascetic, and fulfills himself as a scourge. The movie is disappointingly impersonal; it doesn't provide readers of the autobiography anything like a fresh vision of its remarkable subject. Lee assumes Malcolm's greatness and then simply illustrates it. His approach isn't radical enough to give shape and coherence to Malcolm's internal conflicts; and the ponderous rhythms of the great-man bio-pic only emphasize the impossibility of rendering this story with conventional movie-narrative means. Denzel Washington's performance as Malcolm gets off to a rocky start-for the first hour, he's required to play the hero as a teen-ager-but it gains authority as the movie goes along. This film's Malcolm isn't so much a character as an image: a statue for us to look up at in wonder. Also with Angela Bassett, Delray Linde, Albert Hall, Spike Lee, and Al Freeman, Jr. (a wonderfully sly turn as the hero's mentor, Elijah Muhammad). The script, credited to Lee and Arnold Perl, incorporates (haphazardly) scenes and ideas from a scenario written more than twenty years ago by James Baldwin. The original score, by the jazz trumpeter Terence Blanchard, is brilliant. -Terrence Rafferty
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

educational standpoint
For history and English, I use this dvd to supplement my lessons. As a high-school teacher for English foundations and/or American History for resource students, I must utilize movies as a visual aide supplement to help them connect with the characters, setting, dialogue... I strongly recommend using this dvd to support your curriculum to teach on all levels of student learning (auditory, kinesthetic, visual).

A Great masterpiece of American Cinema
I would show this film in any history class if I taught history. Washington's portrayal of Malcolm X was, is and will always be stunning. It speaks volumes about the most misunderstood aspects in American History. Its an important film that no one should miss. I cannot wait until Blu-ray.

Amazing
I say this quite often about movies, but very rarely say it with as much conviction as when I'm referring to Malcolm X. This is, without a doubt the best movie I've seen in my entire lifetime, and if you haven't seen it, then it will become the best movie you will ever see. I'm actually shocked by some of the 1 star reviews, especially the one calling it a dangerous movie. For one, this movie keeps very loyal to the events and people talked about in his autobiography written by Alex Haley. To call it a dangerous film because it chronicles the life of Malcolm X, would be to call history dangerous. It accurately documents the rise and fall of Malcolm X and accurately displays the reasons for that rise and fall. If a man converted to Islam and became a militant because of this movie, then simply, he didn't get this movie, or at least he didn't watch it all the way through. This isn't anti-Islamic, nor can it be claimed that this in any way can incite militant or extremist behaviour as this exposes the consequences of such behaviours.

Malcolm X was a man who possibly equally responsible for the civil rights movement of African-Americans, yet accomplished it in a completely different way. When I first read "The Autobiography of Malcolm X" by Alex Haley some 5 years ago, it changed my life. The story of the mans religious beliefs and strong heart was inspiring and a story that showed you can really achieve anything if you set your mind to it. Of course, it's cliché but life is full of clichés and that one is about the only cliché you can associate with Malcolm X. He was a man not afraid to speak the truth about the segregation of Afro-Americans, especially in the North where it was believed the black man was much more equal than in the south. Spike Lee in some ways is a lot like Malcolm X, he's a man not afraid to speak out against lifes atrocities and lies by putting them up on screen.

Denzel Washington is possibly the best casting choice for a movie I've ever witnessed and this casting. Not only does he look like Malcolm, but his personality and charisma match that of the legendary figure. The start of this film is Malcolm (Denzel) delivering one of his infamous speeches which sends the electricity down your spine. What's special is even the delivery is akin to that of Malcolm. After that speech we're reverted back to Malcolms beginnings in Harlem as a drug pusher and pimp, and he's telling the story of his early childhood which presents us with numerous flashbacks of his Fathers murder and his Mothers descension into insanity. Because of this, you sort of become aware of how he ends up being the man he is at the start of the movie by going through all these tragedies. After a robbery with his best friend Shorty goes wrong, he's sent to jail where he finds the Nation of Islam and is visited by an apparition of the Prophet Elijah Muhammad. Malcolm has his eyes opened by the atrocious treatment of the African American by the white man. The NOI even today are fighting to have a state designated solely for the Black American, where they can govern themselves and look after their own interests. Malcolm eventually becomes a minister for the Nation and opens it up to a much wider audience, much to the displeasure or the Nation of Islam.

If you're familiar with Minister Malcolm, then you're familiar with what happens next as a result of his joining the Nation. The spectacular life events of such a man are just un-imaginable and it's hard to believe that a man, although he'll disagree, when he was a member of the Nation of Islam was such a segregationist managed to be an influence on so many people. Making such high profile friends such as film star Ossie Davis and working with other, more integarationist activists like Martin Luther King, he managed to truly change the world and is probably one of the main reasons as to why America now has a black man in the White House. Depending on how you look at it, you can either determine that the Islam religion was what made Malcolm such a hero, or whether it was the original manipulation of the Nation of Islam. Either way, I think all will agree that the man was taken away from us all too early.

Looking at articles about Malcolm and his wife Betty X, I found out something truly heart wrenching. Betty X, Malcolms wife, died just over 10 years ago in a fire caused by Malcolm X's grandson. I'm not sure whether the fire was lit to deliberately kill his grandmother, but he was arrested and sentenced to 18 months in Juvenile detention for manslaughter. The reason I brought this up is in the film you will be shown a lot of Betty X and you will come to realise when a great mother and wife she was. She was just as strong an influence on the life and times of Malcolm, as the blight of the black American was. She held the Shabazz family together through the times they left the Nation of Islam and were basically being tortured by them. I applaud her and minister Malcolm for their effect on the world and equal rights.

Minister Malcolm X (El-Hajj Malik El-Shabazz) May 19 1925 - February 21 1965

Dr. Betty Shabazz May 28 1936 - June 23 1997

May they both Rest in Peace.