A Movie Recommendation for Mr. Trump

Dear Donald,
 

 I have a movie to recommend for you. Now, I know that bunches of reporters and talk show hosts have been recommending different books for you to read, but I also know how much you hate to read. So, as a gesture of sympathy, I’m recommending this movie for you. By watching it, you’ll be able to pick up some cool American history without the nuisance of having to stare at all those annoying words on paper.
 

 The movie I’m recommending is BLACKkKLANSMAN, the latest product from Spike Lee, your fellow New Yorker!

 This movie, based on “some real shit” as the opening credits proclaim, has very fine people in it “on both sides.” Not on both sides of the racist vs. anti-racist line, but on both sides of the black-white racial divide. There are also some real nasty characters on the white side, but none on the black. 
 

 This disparity is not a problem. For one thing, I think everyone knows that every racial group in America includes its share of assholes. To introduce a negative black character would not have added anything to the film and, in fact, would have been a distraction. Anyway, if you look through old made-in-USA movies, you can probably find some that featured good white characters, but no positive black characters at all. You might start with Birth of a Nation which, by the way, is prominently featured in BLACKkKLANSMAN.
 

 The focus of Spike Lee’s story is Ron Stallworth, the first black officer hired by the Colorado Springs Police Department. The film is terrific in the way it vividly portrays a struggling, suffering, violence-prone 1970s America struggling to be great. Now, Donald, I realize that the way good citizens like Ron Stallworth were making America great in the 1970s may not match up with what you had in mind with your MAGA slogan, but so what? Courageous and resourceful people fighting tooth and nail to make sure that decency and fair play have a place in America – who could be against that? Well, never mind.
 

 Anyway, the fact that BLACKkKLANSMAN is based on “some real shit,” makes it particularly compelling. It is a damn good movie, and I give it Five Gettysburgs.*

 --

*Explanatory note: Culture World rates movies on a scale of “Gettysburgs” because of the way this battle lies at the heart of American history. It was at Gettysburg that we finally established that our country was going to be great, after all. 

Culture World's Movie Rating Scale

                                Damn good movie!

         Fun and interesting - definitely worth a look

           Fun or interesting. Might be worth a look.

                                       Meh.

   A stinking heap of caca, masquerading as a movie.