Death of a Prophet

Well-intentioned, very deliberate docudrama (don't be scared by introductory remarks from real people, this is not another documentary, you just have to wait a little bit for the drama) recounting the hours and minutes from Malcom X arrival in New York till his assassination at the Audobon Ballroom.. A pall of foreboding hangs over the entire proceedings, as it did in real life. Malcom knew his life was threatened, just not exactly by who, and the muted action cuts back and forth between X worrying and his killers plotting as time ticks to the final conflagration

Everything is fairly and appropriately underplayed, maintaining the docu and resisting overplayed drama, which otherwise so often happens when directors can't resist the temptation to over-lionize the latter day legend more so than he was at the time of the actual events.

Not surprisingly Morgan Freeman as X is definitely on board with this. I don't think he's ever chewed a piece of scenery in his entire career. And all the lesser players follow suit.

If you're looking for big studio fireworks see Spike Lee's , which i HIGHLY recommend, but this one's for appreciation of the real, excruciating anticipation of facing the final abyss.