Malcolm X -1992- -

No discussion of is complete without bowing to the altar of Denzel Washington.

The film was released exactly one year after the Rodney King beating and the subsequent LA uprising. The nation was primed for a conversation about rage, policing, and self-defense. became a cultural referendum. Malcolm X -1992-

But the soundtrack album was a cultural event in itself. It featured a lost track from the 1970s ("Who’s Afraid of the Big Bad Wolves?"), but the standout was Yet, the true legacy is the Sam Cooke interpolation . The film uses Cooke’s "A Change Is Gonna Come" over the montage of the Omowale (the "people's march") in Selma. It was a radical choice—pairing the smooth soul of the Southern movement with the militant urban rage of Malcolm. It bridged the gap between Dr. King and Malcolm X in a way that history never did. No discussion of is complete without bowing to

The Fire This Time: Why 1992 Was the Defining Year for Malcolm X’s Legacy became a cultural referendum

However, the film did snag nominations for Best Costume Design (Ruth E. Carter, who would later win for Black Panther ) and Best Actor.