Malcolm X

Name: Malcolm X
Genre: Biography, Drama
Released: 1992
Duration: 202 min
Cast: Denzel Washington, Angela Bassett, Albert Hall, Al Freeman Jr., Delroy Lindo

Spike Lee19923h 22mBiography, Drama

Why we chose it

When the money for this film ran out, Oprah Winfrey and Michael Jordan put in their own. Spike Lee directs an epic life of Malcolm X, the controversial campaigner for Black rights, and people still say Denzel Washington should have beaten Al Pacino to the Oscar.

Synopsis

In late-1930s Michigan, Malcolm, a preacher’s son, is top of his class until a teacher tells him that law isn’t a career for someone like him. He heads north, straightens his hair and starts hustling in Harlem’s illegal numbers game, which earns him eight to ten years behind bars. There his cellmate begins talking to him about Elijah Muhammad, leader of the Nation of Islam.