Ron Stallworth is an African-American police officer in Colorado Springs and he managed to infiltrate the local Ku Klux Klan branch with the help of Flip Zimmerman a fellow police officer who just happens to be Jewish. The pair being posing as the same man Ron, manage to become the leader of the branch. This film is based on actual events.
Happening in the 1970s civil right movement that is when Ron becomes the first black detective at the Colorado Springs Police Department so it was always going to be such a tough task for him to begin with. Let alone with what he manages to get involved with.
It was very impressive to see how they managed to get inside the Ku Klux Klan in that area even though the white supremacists didn't want to be known as that. While it was very risky for Ron to be communicating with them on the phone, he stupidly gave them his real name inside of coming up with an alias. This then led his colleague Flip to have to pretend to be Ron and also trying to hide his Jewish background.
The film is pretty tense from start to finish and I do believe the main reason behind that is the subject matter. Anything to do with extreme racism is obviously horrible to watch and not at all nice viewing. But that does not mean it is not important, we need to be aware of how cruel humans have been towards one another and not make the same mistakes all over again.
John David Washington was very impressive as Ron and I could not help but at times think I was watching/hearing his father Denzel Washington. Certain times when he was mainly giving the tougher speeches he sounded exactly like him. I know it probably isn't the best to really focus on this but I could not help it as it is certainly not a bad thing at all. He was very impressive from start to finish and I really hope he pushes on after this film as he really does deserve to in his acting career.
Working alongside Washington was Adam Driver who I have found very hit miss over the years but I am very happy to say in this film he was certainly a hit. Offering a very good performance both alongside and opposite Washington. He was given a really tough role in terms of having to be a Jewish man within the Klan.
What is so hard-hitting about the film as a whole was that these events actually happened. You have to keep reminding yourself of that as your watching it. The way they then finished it with Trump and the crazy scenes in America which happened not long after he was made President were a potent reminder that in some places in America the views are still that extreme. It was therefore a very powerful film to watch and I am pleased I managed to catch up with it so quickly.
