Kurai Tsuki
10th April 2004, 01:39
I would like to note some of the differences between the movie, "Malcom X," and the autobiography on which it is based.
In the movie Malcom is converted to Islam after meeting Brother Baines in prison. But in reality Malcom X's family outside prison had joined the Nation of Islam and told him of it, after which he decided to become a Muslim. Malcom never meets Baines in prison. There is no creed to the Nation of Islam which Malcom repeats after Baines as in the movie.
In the movie Malcom copies the dictionary because Brother Baines instructs him to study it. The actual reason of his doing so was to improve his handwriting.
In the movie the quote, "Take a good look where you live..where everyone you know lives..." was uttered while giving a speech outside a church, in the autobiography it it said to a group of young men inside somebody's home.
In the movie Malcom meets Elijah Muhammed almost instantly after leaving prison and inside his private office. In the autobiography this takes place while Muhammed is giving a speech after he has lived with his brother's family for some time, he asks Malcom to stand and he tells the story of Job which was in the movie. Some other events between the time of his leaving prison and meeting Muhammed are also skipped, like him signing up for the Korean War draft and writing that he is a conscientious objector on his form.
In the movie after Muhammed confirms that he did have relations with several women in the Nation of Islam he gives excuses such as it being the, "fulfillment of prophecy," because so many other prophets had done sinful things in the Bible, like Noah being said to become drunk and naked in front of his children. In the autobiography it was actually Malcom and who researched these biblical acts and advised Muhammed to take that attitude. What actually angered Malcom was that Muhammed acted instead like the events never happened, and barely, if never, spoke of them.
There are many distortions of the events of his travels in the movie. First of all, the Egypt and Saudi Arabia trip was *not* the only trip abroad which Malcom made. He also travelled to Canada, France, England, Nigeria, Algeria, Germany and Lebanon. Egypt in the movie is shown to be kind of a backwards area but in the autobiography it is described as being very insustralized because of President Nasser's efforts. He never two men in Egypt who acted as guides and showed him to the pyramids, he did meet two men in the plane from from New York to Germany on the way to Egypt, but there was no conversation as the one in the movie which he had upon meeting them. When Malcom travelled to Mecca he was not instantly granted access into the city, at first the authorities in the city had suspicions about whether he was actually a Moslem and so held him in the airport for several days. He was only released from the airport when he made a phone call to a Moslem scholar who knew of him.
In the movie Malcom is converted to Islam after meeting Brother Baines in prison. But in reality Malcom X's family outside prison had joined the Nation of Islam and told him of it, after which he decided to become a Muslim. Malcom never meets Baines in prison. There is no creed to the Nation of Islam which Malcom repeats after Baines as in the movie.
In the movie Malcom copies the dictionary because Brother Baines instructs him to study it. The actual reason of his doing so was to improve his handwriting.
In the movie the quote, "Take a good look where you live..where everyone you know lives..." was uttered while giving a speech outside a church, in the autobiography it it said to a group of young men inside somebody's home.
In the movie Malcom meets Elijah Muhammed almost instantly after leaving prison and inside his private office. In the autobiography this takes place while Muhammed is giving a speech after he has lived with his brother's family for some time, he asks Malcom to stand and he tells the story of Job which was in the movie. Some other events between the time of his leaving prison and meeting Muhammed are also skipped, like him signing up for the Korean War draft and writing that he is a conscientious objector on his form.
In the movie after Muhammed confirms that he did have relations with several women in the Nation of Islam he gives excuses such as it being the, "fulfillment of prophecy," because so many other prophets had done sinful things in the Bible, like Noah being said to become drunk and naked in front of his children. In the autobiography it was actually Malcom and who researched these biblical acts and advised Muhammed to take that attitude. What actually angered Malcom was that Muhammed acted instead like the events never happened, and barely, if never, spoke of them.
There are many distortions of the events of his travels in the movie. First of all, the Egypt and Saudi Arabia trip was *not* the only trip abroad which Malcom made. He also travelled to Canada, France, England, Nigeria, Algeria, Germany and Lebanon. Egypt in the movie is shown to be kind of a backwards area but in the autobiography it is described as being very insustralized because of President Nasser's efforts. He never two men in Egypt who acted as guides and showed him to the pyramids, he did meet two men in the plane from from New York to Germany on the way to Egypt, but there was no conversation as the one in the movie which he had upon meeting them. When Malcom travelled to Mecca he was not instantly granted access into the city, at first the authorities in the city had suspicions about whether he was actually a Moslem and so held him in the airport for several days. He was only released from the airport when he made a phone call to a Moslem scholar who knew of him.