BlacKkKlansman - 6 nominations

Best Picture - Sean McKittrick, Jason Blum, Raymond Mansfield, Jordan Peele and Spike Lee
Actor in a Supporting Role - Adam Driver
Director - Spike Lee
Film Editing - Barry Alexander Brown
Original Score - Terence Blanchard
Adapted Screenplay - Written by Charlie Wachtel & David Rabinowitz and Kevin Willmott & Spike Lee

"Based on a crazy, outrageous, incredible true story" is the most accurate statement made about this film - no wonder it's right there on the movie poster.  It's the 60's and somehow, African American officer Ron Stallworth has built a phone relationship with David Duke and the KKK, posing as a white man and fellow racist.  This isn't the heart of the south, this is Colorado Springs, Colorado and with racial tensions at an all time high, Stallworth knows instinctively that the place law enforcement should be focusing is on this relatively small hateful group, rather than worrying about the civil rights movement.  When he is invited to become a member of the klan, he realizes he needs a white counterpart to be his proxy in person.  He enlists fellow cop Flip Zimmerman to pose as him noting that as a Jew, Zimmerman can't pretend that the hatred from the klan doesn't affect him, whether he owns his Judaism or not.

This is truly Spike Lee's finest film, and it is his first Oscar nomination for his directing.  (In fact, he has never been nominated for directing for any award in his entire career until now.  Take that in.)  In some ways this film represents the finest of "intersectionality," the notion that oppression of any is oppression of all, and that we all must fight hatred in any form.  For my part, John David Washington is much more deserving of the Actor nomination (which he did not receive) than Adam Driver is of the Supporting Actor nomination (which he did).  While it won't win Best Picture, I think it has a good chance at Adapted Screenplay (which mostly goes to the great film that won't win Best Picture), and is absolutely worth watching.  It's funny, touching, scary, infuriating, and absolutely important.

As a caution, I always like to remind blog readers that "based on a true story" requires no obligation from the filmmaker to the actual events.  If you loved the movie (and I know you did or will), I highly recommend reading Ron Stallworth's book, Race, Hate, and the Undercover Investigation of a Lifetime.  As I have said in blog posts past, movies that are based on true stories should inspire further investigation, and this one is no exception.

This film is a MUST SEE.