Director Malcolm Washington's 'Lesson': 'America Can’t Exist Without Black People'

The first-time director tells me how he made his explosive adaptation of August Wilson's 'The Piano Lesson' his own

LESSON PLAN “Films are presumed to talk about other ideas, bigger ideas, philosophical ideas, historical ideas,” says Malcolm Washington. “So a big part of my coming to be as a filmmaker is me . . . wrestling with ideology itself . . . figuring out my worldview.” (Jason Mendez/Getty Images for Netflix)

I didn’t expect to talk to Malcolm Washington about …