Boots Riley is a filmmaker that burst onto the scene earlier this year with his breakout film “Sorry to Bother You.” The film, which premiered at this year’s Sundance, found a way to discuss prominent social issues in a truly unique way was released in theaters recently and has become a bit of a small, indie hit. However, over the weekend, Riley decided to take aim at another film that tackled racial issues, Spike Lee’s “BlacKkKlansman.”
Before reading the long essay that Riley wrote about Lee’s latest film, you should understand that the filmmaker goes into great detail about very significant spoilers about “BlacKkKlansman.” However, if you’re interested in the crux of Riley’s issues against the film, it’s simple. Riley has issues with Lee calling the film a “true story” and, going back to the source material written by Ron Stallworth, the filmmaker has significant concerns about the memoir that inspired the film.
Again, we’ll leave the spoilers for another time, but there are a few major scenes in the film, which happen at the very end, where Riley is concerned by the “true” aspect of the message. Riley points out that the action scene towards the end, and the coda that ends the film, are both created by Lee and the various writers of the script. These scenes don’t appear in the memoir, and therefore, according to Riley, call into question the beginning of Lee’s film which clearly states that “BlacKkKlansman” is based on “some fo real, fo real shit.”
“For Spike to come out with a movie where story points are fabricated in order to make a Black cop and his counterparts look like allies in the fight against racism is really disappointing, to put it very mildly,” Riley says.
But that’s not all that Riley has issues with. The filmmaker also points out that the memoir has some factual inconsistencies and does fail to address some real things that Stallworth and the police/FBI did during that time that was counter to the Civil Rights movement. “The real Ron Stallworth infiltrated a Black radical organization for 3 years. . . where he did what all papers from the FBI’s Counter Intelligence Program (Cointelpro) that were found through the freedom of information act tell us he did—sabotage a Black radical organization whose intent had to do with at the very least fighting racist oppression,” Riley tweeted.
If you’ve seen the film and/or read the memoir, Riley’s concerns are obviously well-researched and interesting. But the real debate that Riley clearly doesn’t really worry about is the idea of what constitutes a “Based on True Story” film. Does a filmmaker, who is adapting a memoir or true story, have a right to change things for dramatic effect? Or should that person stick to the true story without deviation? And does it hurt or help the cause if a film that is tackling heavy issues, with a clear message, changes events to better suit the narrative?
These are questions that Riley has a stance on, but ultimately, should be left to the audience.
Ok. Here's are some thoughts on #Blackkklansman.
Contains spoilers, so don't read it if you haven't seen it and you don't wanna spoil it. pic.twitter.com/PKfnePrFGy
— Boots Riley (@BootsRiley) August 17, 2018