2) The movie Boyz N the Hood directed by John Singleton is a movie I would classify as a black filmic sensibility film. I watched this once when I was 14 and I only remember it being an entertaining film. I ended up watching it again when I was 17 and ended up loving it so much more when I rewatched it. I was able to catch on to the dark tone and themes of the movie. Instead of romanticizing the dangerous and violent lifestyle of being a gangster in South Central LA, it shows the major issues in the community not only with adults, but with the children as well. Instead of giving a hopeful ending to this movie it talks about the issues with Doughboy and his eventual death due to his decision to become a gangster. Also, it shows the brutal death of Ricky and shows the dangers to regular people in these communities who are just trying to make it out. Overall, this film depicts life for black people in areas like this as a dangerous and violent lifestyle rather than the “cool” and “action packed” view blacksploitation films portrayed back in the early 70s.
I was surprised how much backlash there was for Spike Lee’s Malcolm X movie to be so controversial. I watched this movie a couple of years ago and remembered thinking it was a relatively good movie. I thought Denzel’s performance was great and portrayed the activist very well. Some of the criticism he faced about making a movie about this leader does make sense to me considering Malcolm X was such an icon and hero for many black people I get they wouldn’t want their view tainted by someone else’s vision of the man. I did wish that in the movie Spike Lee focused more on the political aspect of his life rather than so much time about his life leading up to that point, but other than that I thought the movie was very well done and I believe Denzel deserved the Oscar he got for this role.