COVER STORY 6
DECEMBER_J4j^992_^
EBONY
VOICES
Which version
was better:
Lee’s film or
Haley’s book?
Ink StafT Reports
Editor's Note: Ebony voices are black
students on campus giving their opin
ions about current issues.
“The book. The movie leaves oitt some
important facets of his life that we need
to know in order to better understand
the man.”- Marchelle Adams
“Both. Some people will take the initia
tive to read the book, others will see the
movie; but as long as the message is
relayed it doesn’ t matter."- Brian Paries
“The book was astounding and the film
did an excellent job of bringing the
book to life,"- Janene Shubrick
" The book. Since the bode was quoted
directly to Alex Haley, the facts were
presented. Even though Spike Lee had
consultants to the movie, his personal
biases were shown.”
- L«i Bolds
“I like the book beuer because it was
more in-depth. There were some things
1 liJflfcd better in the movie than the book
and vice versa. The movie was not
really a separate entity; it used the book
as a guide ”-Akinwolc N'Gai Wright
"Both of the works were good, I don’t
really think that you can compare the
twa Haley’s bocA was toW direcdy to
him from Malcolm, but I think that the
visual presentation was more moving.”-
Michelle Joyner
The man, the ir
Spike Lee brings the autobi
Scott Johnson
fWikeff Write^
Wg|,itiS^puiy
Thetong a waited release
of Spike Lee’s movie ver
sion of "The Autobiogra
phy of Malcolm X.”
After two years, one
white director, tons of con
troversy and three hours
and twenty-one minutes, I
saw “Malcolm X” on
opening day.
At first, I was disap
pointed with the small
turnout for the first show
ing of what was sure to be
an incredible movie.
- From the thirty people
at the Plaza (about ten were
white), it was obvious that
Spike’s suggestion that
people take off from school
and work to see this movie
didn’t pay off.
So, I got some popcorn
and soda and prepared
myself for sitting in the
same spot for almost three
and one half hours.
The fifteen minutes be
fore the movie was sup
posed to start seemed like and hour.
the lights
ing was
ling
mg ot ROHtey
burning of an Ameri
can flag into an X; to
the ending of the eu
logy by Ossie Davis
and a speech by
Nelson Mandela, I sat
in utter disbelief at
what I consida* to be
one of the greatest
movies of all time.
Going into the
movie, I wondered if
three hours and
twenty-one minutes
would be too long.
I wondered how
much Spike would
stick to Alex Haley’s
collaboration with
Malcolm X on his
autobiography.
I wondered if
Denzel Washington
could play Malcolm
effectively. And the
answer to all of these
questions was yes.
In fact, the movie
but and
e of the
could have been easily four hours
Maicoli
Malcolmjisi^^erfor
, there is
minutes left for Malcolm’s trip to
[hisi
If,'
Love him or hate him Malcolm demands
respect.
anothCT half an hour,
because his trip to
Africa and change in
philosophy was jusi
as, if not more,
imortantas any of the
other events which
occurred during his
life.
This was my only
complaint of the
movie.
Money permit
ting, Spike should
have used an addi
tional thirty minutes
or more to highlight
Malcolm’s accom
plishments after he
separated from the
Nation of Islam.
Aside from that,
the movie “Malcolm
X” was very similar
to the autobiography
Spike did a good
job of staying on
track, and not letting
Has Malcoh
Surpassed
Martin???
Martin Luther
ofotema