Just re watched the film and by just going on the film not historical accuracy. I think Malcolm got conned by baines. He was a lost soul going nowhere. He needed a purpose and a place to belong. Noi provided this. Seeing x worship and defend Muhammad then be betrayed really reeked of being conned. It was like the noi knew he was just a pawn and played him like a fool.
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Well, Baines isn't real. The idea was to show that during his time in prison, he fell under the spell of Islam teachings and that got him thru the prison years and so when he got out, he didn't go back there due to falling back into bad crowds. Yes, what happens during the early Muslim years shows how his power grew and how he was blind to thinking Elijah was perfect. It took awhile before he realized that he was mistaken and when he went to Mecca, he changed again, believing that there are good in all races. Since he got assassinated so shortly afterwards, people don't realize that.
shareQuite true. Elijah had him killed for breaking away from the Nation and forming his own Mosque. I guess that would have been like a Mafia Capo forming his own "family" without the Don's blessing.
"A real man would rather bow down to a strong woman than dominate a weak one"
Why did they create the unnessary character of Baines? Why not just have his brother introduce him? Because Elijah Muhammid is already jealous of him, so Elijah is already a substitute for the Baines character, and Baines was not needed.
shareMalcolm's introduction to the NoI was actually much more complicated than portrayed in the movie.
The Baines character was created to move the story along. The movie was already more than 3 hours long. Baines represents a number of different characters and helps us to understand the inner struggle that Malcolm had with some of the inconsistencies he found within the NoI.
Indeed. It seemed like one of the film's themes was that the difference between organized crime and organized religion was not that much. They even divide it into two halves to show that. First DVD disk is about crime, second about religion, and show you the parallels in the way he rose up in both.
shareMy feeling from the movie was that Baines was sincere in prison, but got disillusioned and corrupted by money when he got out.
I didn't know he isn't real but a composite character. But the feeling I got was that for the NOI it was more a con-job about collecting money and prestige than about much else. That's how I interpreted "get your hand out of my pocket".