C'est pas grand chose pour le moment: la fiche du film Malcolm X (très long mais vraiment bien)

MALCOLM X de SPIKE LEE

Infos :

Genre : Drame
Pays : USA (1992)
Casting : Denzel Washington, Angela Bassett, Spike Lee…

Synopsis :

Le film relate la vie de Malcolm Little, dit Malcolm X, leader d'opinion de la population noire américaine entre 1946 et 1965. Le jeune homme, âgé de 21 ans, vivant à Omaha (Nebraska), profite de sa jeunesse insouciante aux côtés de son ami Shorty (Spike Lee) singeant les blancs, provocant les moeurs en s'affichant avec la blanche Sophia (Kate Vernon) et la noire, Laura (Theresa Randle). Alcool, drogue et débauche prennent le relais lorsque, adulte, il s'installe à Boston où il rencontre et se lie avec Archie (Delroy Lindo), un mafieux. La trahison suivie d'une séparation mouvementée conduit Malcolm en prison, après un vol. C'est là qu'il rencontre le co-détenu Baines (Albert Hall) qui profite de sa faiblesse et de sa vulnérabilité pour le pousser à se convertir à l'Islam. A sa sortie, il rejoint les rangs de l'organisation "Nation of Islam" dont le chef, le gourou Elijah Muhammad (Al Freeman Jr), le transforme en brillant orateur prônant la violence comme unique moyen de lutter contre la ségrégation. Dans ces temps, il rencontre un membre du mouvement, Betty Shabazz (Angela Bassett), avec laquelle il fonde une famille. Tout va pour le mieux jusqu'au jour où l'adoration fait place à la réalité – il est accusé de trahison envers Elijah Muhammed par les membres de la Nation of Islam, jaloux de sa popularité – et Malcolm X se désolidarise du groupe. Son pèlerinage à la Mecque lui fait alors découvrir la vraie foi mais, à son retour, les persécutions commencent :harcèlement, incendie, etc. Lors d’un discours au Manhattan’s Audubon Ballroom le 21 Février 1965, 3 hommes de la Nation of Islam, armés, le tuent sur scène de 15 coups de feu. Malcolm X, âgé de 39 ans, est déclaré mort à son arrivée à la New York’s Columbia Presbyterian Hospital. 1500 personnes étaient présentes à Harlem pour les funérailles de ce défenseur des droits civiques.

Extraits :

“Human rights are something you were born with. Human rights are your God-given rights. Human rights are the rights that are recognized by all nations of this earth.”

“Power in defense of freedom is greater than power in behalf of tyranny and oppression, because power, real power, comes from our conviction which produces action, uncompromising action.”

« Frères et sœurs
Je suis ici pour mettre le blanc en accusation
J’accuse le blanc d’être le plus gd assassin sur cette terre
J’accuse le blanc d’être le plus grand kidnappeur sur cette terre
Nulle part en ce monde où il est passé le blanc peut dire qu’il a crée la paix et l’harmonie
Partout où il est passé il a semé le chaos
Partout où il est passé il a semé la destruction
C’est pourquoi je l’accuse
Je l’accuse d’être le plus grand kidnappeur sur cette terre,
Le plus grand assassin sur cette terre,
Le plus grand voleur sur cette terre,
Le plus grand esclavagiste sur cette terre,
Je l’accuse d’être le plus grand mangeur de porc sur cette terre,
Le plus grand ivrogne sur cette terre,
Il ne peut nier ces accusations
Vous non plus vous ne pouvez pas nier ces accusations
Nous sommes la preuve vivante de ces accusations
Tu n’es pas Américain
Tu n’es qu’une victime de l’Amérique »

« Je ne prêche pas la haine, je prêche l’amour »

Citations de Malcolm X :

"A man who stands for nothing will fall for anything."

"We are nonviolent with people who are nonviolent with us."

"Don't be in a hurry to condemn because he doesn't do what you do or think as you think or as fast. There was a time when you didn't know what you know today."

"My alma mater was books, a good library... I could spend the rest of my life reading, just satisfying my curiosity."

"Stumbling is not falling."

"There is no better than adversity. Every defeat, every heartbreak, every loss, contains its own seed, its own lesson on how to improve your performance next time."

“They put your mind right in a bag, and take it wherever they want.”

"We didn't land on Plymouth Rock, Plymouth Rock landed on us."

"Concerning nonviolence, it is criminal to teach a man not to defend himself when he is the constant victim of brutal attacks."

"A race of people is like an individual man; until it uses its own talent, takes pride in its own history, expresses its own culture, affirms its own selfhood, it can never fulfill itself."

"I for one believe that if you give people a thorough understanding of what confronts them and the basic causes that produce it, they'll create their own program, and when the people create a program, you get action."

"If you're not ready to die for it, put the word 'freedom' out of your vocabulary."

"I feel like a man who has been asleep somewhat and under someone else's control. I feel that what I'm thinking and saying is now for myself. Before it was for and by the guidance of Elijah Muhammad. Now I think with my own mind, sir!"

"The thing that you have to understand about those of us in the Black Muslim movement was that all of us believed 100 percent in the divinity of Elijah Muhammad. We believed in him. We actually believed that God, in Detroit by the way, that God had taught him and all of that. I always believed that he believed in himself. And I was shocked when I found out that he himself didn't believe it."

"I believe that there will ultimately be a clash between the oppressed and those that do the oppressing. I believe that there will be a clash between those who want freedom, justice and equality for everyone and those who want to continue the systems of exploitation."

"It is a time for martyrs now, and if I am to be one, it will be for the cause of brotherhood. That's the only thing that can save this country."
-- February 19, 1965 (2 days before he was murdered by Nation of Islam followers)

"Without education, you're not going anywhere in this world."

"...I shall never rest until I have undone the harm I did to so many well-meaning, innocent Negroes who through my own evangelistic zeal now believe in him even more fanatically and more blindly than I did."
-- on those he encouraged to follow Nation of Islam leader Elijah Muhammad

"When a person places the proper value on freedom, there is nothing under the sun that he will not do to acquire that freedom. Whenever you hear a man saying he wants freedom, but in the next breath he is going to tell you what he won't do to get it, or what he doesn't believe in doing in order to get it, he doesn't believe in freedom. A man who believes in freedom will do anything under the sun to acquire . . . or preserve his freedom."

"You don't have to be a man to fight for freedom. All you have to do is to be an intelligent human being."

"Dr. King wants the same thing I want. Freedom."

"I want Dr. King to know that I didn't come to Selma to make his job difficult. I really did come thinking I could make it easier. If the white people realize what the alternative is, perhaps they will be more willing to hear Dr. King."
-- in a conversation with Mrs. Coretta Scott King.

"I am not a racist. I am against every form of racism and segregation, every form of discrimination. I believe in human beings, and that all human beings should be respected as such, regardless of their color."

Citations de discours de Malcolm X:

"The common goal of 22 million Afro-Americans is respect as human beings, the God-given right to be a human being. Our common goal is to obtain the human rights that America has been denying us. We can never get civil rights in America until our human rights are first restored. We will never be recognized as citizens there until we are first recognized as humans."
-- "Racism: the Cancer that is Destroying America," in Egyptian Gazette (Aug. 25 1964).

"You can’t separate peace from freedom because no one can be at peace unless he has his freedom."
-- "Prospects for Freedom in 1965," speech, Jan. 7 1965, New York City (published in Malcolm X Speaks, ch. 12, 1965).

"The Negro revolution is controlled by foxy white liberals, by the Government itself. But the Black Revolution is controlled only by God."
-- Speech, Dec. 1, 1963, New York City.

"I believe in the brotherhood of man, all men, but I don’t believe in brotherhood with anybody who doesn’t want brotherhood with me. I believe in treating people right, but I’m not going to waste my time trying to treat somebody right who doesn’t know how to return the treatment."
-- Speech, Dec. 12 1964, New York City.

"There is nothing in our book, the Koran, that teaches us to suffer peacefully. Our religion teaches us to be intelligent. Be peaceful, be courteous, obey the law, respect everyone; but if someone puts his hand on you, send him to the cemetery. That’s a good religion."
-- "Message to the Grass Roots," speech, Nov. 1963, Detroit (published in Malcolm X Speaks, ch. 1, 1965).

"It’s just like when you’ve got some coffee that’s too black, which means it’s too strong. What do you do? You integrate it with cream, you make it weak. But if you pour too much cream in it, you won’t even know you ever had coffee. It used to be hot, it becomes cool. It used to be strong, it becomes weak. It used to wake you up, now it puts you to sleep."
-- "Message to the Grass Roots," speech, Nov. 1963, Detroit (published in Malcolm X Speaks, ch. 1, 1965).

"Sitting at the table doesn’t make you a diner. You must be eating some of what’s on that plate. Being here in America doesn’t make you an American. Being born here in America doesn’t make you an American."
-- "The Ballot or the Bullet," speech, April 3 1964, Cleveland, Ohio (published in Malcolm X Speaks, ch. 3, 1965).

"If violence is wrong in America, violence is wrong abroad. If it is wrong to be violent defending black women and black children and black babies and black men, then it is wrong for America to draft us, and make us violent abroad in defense of her. And if it is right for America to draft us, and teach us how to be violent in defense of her, then it is right for you and me to do whatever is necessary to defend our own people right here in this country."
-- Speech, Nov. 1963, New York City.