Spike Lee's most beautifully preachy moments

By Josiah M. Hesse Tue., Sep. 4 2012 at 10:10 AM

Categories: Film, Lists, Trivia

Samuel L. Jackson and Halle Berry in Jungle Fever.

Spike Lee's films always carry a social message, but his mastery of aesthetics and storytelling usually transcend any political bias. Yet just like the jazz score in a Woody Allen flick, or obscure pop culture references in one of Quentin Tarantino's little treasures, there inevitably comes a point in almost every Spike Lee movie where the narrative slows into a montage, or the drama becomes thick as molasses, and something clicks in our mind that says, "Ah, he wants to teach us a lesson about society here." It wouldn't be a Spike Lee film without them, and in honor of his latest release, Red Hook, premiering at the Mayan Theatre this Friday, we give you the most beautifully preachy moments of Spike Lee.

5. Dictionary

Malcolm X (1992)

When the wild, straight-haired, cocaine-addicted Malcom Little lands himself an extended stint in jail for a Boston crime spree, he meets Baines Hall, who turns him on to the idea that God is black, all whites are devils, and Jackie Robinson is nothing to write home about. And it all starts with this fascinating plunge into the white man's dictionary.