BlacKkKlansman (2018)

  I had this disc at home but I didn't get to see it before the Oscar ceremony. 

Detective Ron Stallworth (John David Washington) is newly hired to the Colorado Springs police department as their first black officer.  Stallworth wastes no time applying for undercover work, first infiltrating a lecture given by Kwame Ture/Stokely Carmichael (Corey Hawkins), one of the original founders of the Black Power movement, and meeting the lovely Patrice (Laura Harrier).  Then Stallworth sees an ad in the paper for a membership drive by the Ku Klux Klan and decides to begin an investigation into the hate group, posing as a white man.  His partner, Flip Zimmerman (Adam Driver), plays Ron in face-to-face meetings, working through the local chapter all the way to meeting the Grand Wizard, David Duke (Topher Grace). 

This is based on a true story, adapted from the book by Ron Stallworth.  It's one of those stories that sounds insane when you hear the pitch and then gets more crazy as it unfolds.  As a film, it works seamlessly.  Spike Lee is a consummate professional whose work has been critically lauded (but rarely recognized by the Academy) for decades.  He knows how to frame a narrative.

I have read some criticism about the film being too soft a look at racism and the deeper experiences of African-Americans and I think those points are valid.  It is definitely packaged for a white audience with the inclusion of Driver's "I never understood until it happened to me" narrative arc.  It's almost certainly designed to preach to the choir, as well.  Unlike the softly-spooned we-can-all-get-along-if-we-try message of Green Book, BlacKkKlansman swiftly points out that we have not progressed all that far in the almost 50 years since Ron Stallworth picked up the phone and dialed up his local white supremacists. 

Should you see BlacKkKlansman?  Yes.  It's a fascinating story expertly told.