Spike Lee. The mere name conjures up images of a filmmaker who is uncompromising, cutting edge, bitter and angry. Yet, these are not the first words one might thing of upon hearing the director's name. Quite simply, for most of us, the first word would be black. Spike Lee is a black filmmaker who makes black films about black subject matter, usually about black oppression or black anger, that utilizes mainly black actors and black crew. The fact that a vast majority of his films are equally appreciated by both black and white audiences, many of the latter considered film fanatics, has not seemed to change the process of his work. He simply seems to make the films he wants to make, whether there is an American audience for them or not. In this respect, with most of his film grossing less than $30 million domestically, he is quite a fortunate filmmaker as well.

"Bamboozled" is a complicated and opaque film. I'm still not sure after seeing it exactly what it is about. It both celebrates black entertainers from the past while simultaneously denigrating the white audience for such entertainment. Many of these entertainers were, in fact, horrid stereotypes propagated by Hollywood in the first part of the 20th century. But these entertainers too filled people, both black and white, with joy. They were marvellous talents who may have been responsible for opening many doors to acceptance for blacks, even if the process was long and arduous.

I'm going all over the map here because Lee goes all over the map in the film. His "Bamboozled" is a Moebius strip, a dog chasing it's tail that can't seem to decide what it is trying to say. His film proposes that stereotypical treatment of blacks is wrong and yet admits that it is such treatment that leads to revolution and change. He suggests that modern black entertainment is wrong, in that blacks are seen as a consumer demographic and yet he offers no evidence to the contrary nor no solution to the problem if it indeed does exist. He offers up villains that are both black and white without making it clear who the real villains are. Is Michael Rapaport's TV exec a villain because he thinks of himself as a hip "nigger" and has a black wife even though he is an obvious racist? Is Damon Wayans' TV writer a villain because he is an angry and bitter talent who creates a racist show that becomes popular? Is the black militant group of rappers in the film villains because they commit a heinous, wrong-headed crime? Or are they in fact victims when they become the prey of police? Lee seems to offer no answers to any of these questions.

Watching "Bamboozled," I simply got the feeling that the relationships between blacks and whites in America were fucked up, have always been fucked up and will always be fucked up. "Bamboozled" is a hopeless, angry, brutal, and viscous film about race relations and how the entertainment industry presents and effects these relations but it never once offers any true insight. It simply continually reminds us that there can never really be a solution. Peace will never come.

How am I suppose to feel as a modern, rather intelligent, white man? The film makes use of old stereotypical black collectibles. You know, those old banks, cookie jars and toys that features caricatures of black people as bug eyed, big lipped types. These items are highly collectable for both blacks and whites. I realize their history, their negative stereotypes, their horrid past. And yet, they're cute kitsch. They are lively, colorful and attractive antiques. And they are an important part of history. As important as the concentration camps which remain as landmarks in Poland and Germany. Are we suppose to celebrate them as collectibles and part of our cultural history? Or are we suppose to condemn them as souvenirs of a far less progressive and far more hateful time? Even Lee doesn't seem to know the answer. He seems angry that there is no answer.

"Bamboozled," since it is about TV, is filmed mostly in digital video. It looks awesome. Lee's use of color and set is nothing short of brilliant. If ever a film were another indication of how digital video can put the power of filmmaking into the hands of the proletariat, in particular the black community, then this is the film. Lee is wise to use it.

The acting in the film is rather odd with Damon Wayans portrayal of the TV writer way too over-the-top. It is sometimes bad and sometimes awesome. Wayans affects a really odd manner of speech in the film and therefore can never have any emotional impact with any of his dialogue. Usually, it does not work. Jada Pinkett-Smith is wonderful as the lead female, a heroine who gets caught up in a trap she can not control as much as Wayans does. Tommy Davidson and Savion Glover are remarkable as the entertainers cast in Wayans television hit, a modern minstrel show. Glover, a dancer of remarkable talent, gets an opportunity to shine here and steals ever scene in which he appears with his subtle charm and quiet innocence. Davidson, meanwhile, gets an exit scene where he knocks our socks off. He proves he has talent that has not even begun to be tapped and he does so in just 60 seconds here. Rapaport continues Lee's trend of using white ethnic males to viciously expose the hypocrisy and underlying racism in modern white America. Rapaport is even a more obvious variation on this theme.

From the beginning of the film, Lee's dialogue tells us that this is a "satire," where man's vices and follies are held up to ridicule and contempt. In "Bamboozled," no one is right. All the characters have flaws and follies, all of these are held up to utter contempt and harsh ridicule. Lee exposes us all, black and white, as the same villain, the same problem. He lays waste to all of the past and burns the past anger, bitterness and contempt we are all guilty of to ashes. He razes the village. All of it. But, alas, he gives us no suggestions and no solutions on how to rebuild. He simply destroys the past. He blames everyone. Everyone, that is, except himself. And it is because of Lee's pedantic, smug and superior tone that "Bamboozled" is, ultimately, an utter failure.

Derisive and devicive, the film does not heal, only continues to divide. After viewing it, the cavern has never seemed more vast.

Report Card Script: F Acting: B- Cinematography\Lighting: A+ Special Effects\Make Up: A+ Music: B+ Final Grade: C-

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