Spike Lee is a favourite in Oscars 2019 Best Directing category for BlacKkKlansman. (Source: Joel C Ryan/Invision/AP)The Best Directing category in Oscars 2019 is wide open. Whoever wins, there is not going to be much complaining. However, Spike Lee appears to be the most likely nominee to take home the trophy. Not only is it criminal that Lee does not have this trophy already after so many acclaimed films, no black director has won this award — ever.
Lee’s BlacKkKlansman is a film in which social commentary blends seamlessly with caustic humour. If “social comedy” were a genre, Lee would be its pioneer. Based on a true story, BlacKkKlansman is set in the 1970s.
The film is about an African-American cop called Ron Stallworth in Colorado Springs who infiltrated the local branch of the white supremacist group Ku Klux Klan by posing as a sympathiser on phone. Adam Driver stars as Philip Zimmerman, who acts as the face to that voice. As a Jew, Philip understands what happens when a community is victimised.
BlacKkKlansman, as mentioned before, carries a deep social message. But that message does not belong in the 1970s. It is still relevant in Donald Trump’s America, which white supremacy and Neo-Nazism is not only alive, but actually flourishing. To hammer home this point, Lee showed the violence during Unite the Right Rally in Charlottesville, Virginia and Trump’s response in the aftermath that there was “egregious display of hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides.”
But this social message, except at the very end, never overpowers the narrative and story, which maintains humour and character work.
Against Lee is Alfonso Cuarón’s Roma. Films do not get as personal as Roma. Cuarón has written, directed, shot, co-produced and co-edited it. If that weren’t enough, the film is also based on his life in the Mexico City’s Roma district and his household’s live-in maid.
Roma is stunning, but is also a hard film to watch if, like me, you are not used to long stretches of dialogue-less scenes. This film, more than any I have ever seen, needs patience. If you can stay with it long enough, however, Roma is extremely rewarding. The tracking shots are something to behold. It has so astoundingly rich visually and emotionally that it is hard to put into words. though I did not understand the need of black-and-white.
As good and as personal Roma is, this time it is Spike Lee’s turn. Cuarón already has a Best Director Oscar for Gravity (Lee, interestingly, also has an ‘Honorary Award’ from the Academy), and Lee’s Best Director win has been a long time coming.
