Malcolm X

The 1992 biographical drama directed by Spike Lee has a massive runtime of 202 minutes (3 hours and 22 minutes). It was one of the longest major American film productions of the 1990s. The epic length allowed Lee to cover Malcolm X's entire life, from his criminal youth to his time as a Nation of Islam minister.

Despite giving a highly acclaimed performance as Malcolm X, Denzel Washington did not win the Academy Award for Best Actor. He was nominated but lost to Al Pacino for *Scent of a Woman*, a decision that remains controversial among film historians. Washington did, however, win the New York Film Critics Circle Award for Best Actor.

Before chronicling his early life, the movie opens with powerful archival footage of the Rodney King beating and a burning American flag, setting the stage for the racial tensions of the era. The film then flashes back to Malcolm Little's youth in Boston and Harlem. Spike Lee uses this opening to visually connect Malcolm's struggles to the modern-day reality of the 1990s.

Nelson Mandela makes a cameo appearance at the very end of the film as a schoolteacher in Soweto, South Africa. He is shown standing in a classroom, reciting a speech that Malcolm X delivered shortly before his assassination. Mandela actually met with Spike Lee to discuss the scene, though he refused to utter Malcolm's final phrase "by any means necessary" for political reasons.