Synopsis
A tribute to the controversial black activist and leader of the struggle for black liberation. He hit bottom during his imprisonment in the '50s, he became a Black Muslim and then a leader in the Nation of Islam. His assassination in 1965 left a legacy of self-determination and racial pride.
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Cast
- Denzel WashingtonMalcolm X
- Angela BassettBetty Shabazz
- Albert HallBaines
- Al Freeman Jr.Elijah Muhammad
- Delroy LindoWest Indian Archie
- Spike LeeShorty
- Theresa RandleLaura
- Kate VernonSophia
- Lonette McKeeLouise Little
- Tommy HollisEarl Little
Recommendations
- 100
The New York Times
Mr. Lee means for Malcolm X to be an epic, and it is in its concerns and its physical scope. In Denzel Washington it also has a fine actor who does for Malcolm X what Ben Kingsley did for “Gandhi.” [18 November 1992] - 100
Chicago Sun-Times
The film is inspirational and educational - and it is also entertaining, as movies must be before they can be anything else. - 90
Washington Post
Lee's finest, most unabashed labor of love. - 90
Washington Post
A spiritually enriching testament to the human capacity for change -- and surely Spike Lee's most universally appealing film. - 80
TV Guide Magazine
Lee's biography of the slain civil rights leader treats Malcolm, not as a political rallying point, but as a fully rounded individual whose life defies reduction to symbolic status. - 67
Austin Chronicle
A mortal movie about an immortal subject and the very fact that it succeeds as well as it does is a testament to Lee's skills as a filmmaker. - 60
Variety
The picture comes up short in several departments, notably in pacing and in giving a strong sense of why this man became such a legend. - 60
The New Yorker
The movie is disappointingly impersonal; it doesn't provide readers of the autobiography anything like a fresh vision of its remarkable subject.
