Customer Reviews

Malcolm X: Make It Plain [VHS]

5 star:		(7)
4 star:		(0)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

This is typical of the modern style of documentary. Very little of the actual subject matter -Malcolm X, rarely shows up on his own tape. Instead of showing Malcolm himself speaking, they give us OTHER people telling us what a great speaker Malcolm was. Rather than having Malcolm explain himself, we have a variety of "experts" explaining Malcolm's beliefs. When you finish watching a tape like this, you can't understand what all the fuss over this guy is about. You don't get a sense of his personality or charisma.

Its really annoying how John Henrick Clarke, Joseph X and others are allowed to speak sentence after sentence about Malcolm, but when a clip of Malcolm himself is shown, its often cut after only one sentence.

A much better choice is "Malcolm X: His Own Story as it Really Happened" which was made back in 1972 when the trend in documentraies was to include as much of the original subject mattera as possible.

I went to the library, and borrowed 5-6 tapes on Malcolm X. Out of all of them, including the Spike Lee movie, this one is *THE* best. We even showed it at our University twice because it was so good. Includes aspects of the history such as the "Fruit of Islam" and other little tidbits you won't see in the other documentaries!

This straight forward work takes the viewer thru the life of Malcolm X - from early adulthood to death. The story is told via short interviews with friends and family who knew him best.

Great, unbiased telling of the events. Perfect for the classroom as well.

This is one of the few Malcolm X documentaries that does not require previous reading on the subject to understand what is going on (the also-good "Biography" segment does a good job too). It should , however, inspire you to read some more afterward.

"Make it Plain" has been an invaluable resource in my classroom. The quality information and direction by Orlando Bagwell is superior. I strongly recommend this video to educators and anyone who wishes to get an accurate and entertaining look into one of our most misunderstood leaders of the century.

This documentary on the life and death of El Hajj Malik El Shabazz (Malcolm X) is the one I would choose to leave as a record for my children as to what happened during this period of time in our history as African Americans in this country. I select it probably because I personally knew most of the people in it or mentioned in it. I am only 58 years old at the time of this review however I grew up in the Nation of Islam. My father served directly under Captain Joseph X (Yusuf Shah) as a head investigator on his staff. In 1962 as a 10 year old(Jr. Fruit) I sat under Minister Malcolm and listened to him intently as he rocked my young world with the reality of American life and what it meant to Black folk. It is surreal to watch Captain Joseph talk about Malcolm in this documentary because in real life I watched the two of them interact during friendlier times while Malcolm was alive. The period during which these men lived is a special time in the history of this nation. This documentary comes closer than any other that I've seen that captures this period on film. The scene I cherish most in this documentary is the one where both Minister Malcolm and Minister Farrakhan and others can be seen with the Honorable Elijah Muhammad in Chicago as he tries on a fez which they had purchased for him.

The American Experience is an excellent series on PBS. In my opinion, Malcolm X: Make It Plain, is one of the best of the entire series.

I believe that this video really dug deep into the life of Malcom X and every African American who is black and proud should see this video.

A way-too-long, poorly-edited documentary. Incessant, unrelated & generic footage distracted from the subject himself. Like too many other mediocre documentaries, it attempts to reconstruct the entire era on just one video tape, and so waters down the intensity of this very interesting individual. It would have sufficed as a story of a very complex man, and his remarkable intellectual development.