6. Bamboozled (2000)
Spike Lee has never shied away from racism in his film-work, and he is notable for his contribution to bringing it to a new platform as well as giving it a strong African-American voice. One of Lee's boldest moves was the story he told in the 2000 satire Bamboozled. In the film Damon Wayans plays Delacroix, a jaded black executive on a white-run TV network, who decides to come up with a TV program so racist and outlandish its bound to get him fired, thus freeing him from his contract with the network. The program he creates is a variety show entitled Mantan: The New Millennium Minstrel Show. He hires two black street performers (Savion Glover and Tommy Davidson) to star in the show, as characters aptly named Mantan and Sleep N Eat. Wearing "Blackface" make-up and speaking in an overtly racist Southern twang the show becomes a surprise hit for the network, causing Delacroix to spiral down into madness and depression. Lee pulls out all the stops with this film, with frank and over the top performances of the minstrel show and a snide commentary on what the media can accept as entertainment. Some of the characters are repulsed by the program, while others relish in its success and the film is another fine example of what Lee can achieve in his narrative with the power of the cinema. Sometimes the drama seems too heavy handed, and the constant messages about racism and self loathing one's own skin color that Lee drives home seem verbatim by the film's bleak conclusion.