Review of Do the Right Thing (1989) by Tyler C — 29 May 2010

Spike Lee's Do The Right Thing is by far one of the greatest racial films I have ever seen. Lee provides a great insight into race relations between blacks,whites,Italians,and Puerto Ricans and shows that we all have this anger just building up inside of us and it just lets out at the wrong time with very tragic consequences. The film centers on a Brooklyn neighborhood in 1989 on one of the hottest days of the year. The film is carried by pizza delivery man Mookie (Spike Lee),who experiences nearly all of the day's events as the heat gets stronger outside. There's also a very colorful assortment of characters beside him like Italian pizzeria owner Sal (Danny Aiello) and his sons Pino and Vito (John Tuturro and Richard Edson),Mookie's spastic friend Buggin' Out (Giancarlo Esposito),the local drunk Da Mayor (Ossie Davis),street observer Mother Sister (Ruby Dee),the silent Radio Raheem (Bill Nunn),the mentally disabled local salesman Smiley (Roger Guenveur Smith),Mookie's stern girlfriend Tina (Rosie Perez),and the charismatic DJ Senor Love Daddy (Samuel L. Jackson) round out the crew.

The film follows the actions of these characters for the whole day but most of it takes place at Sal's pizzeria. Buggin' Out wants to boycott the place because of having no black people on the wall of fame (which is composed of famous Italian people) but finds no luck for support until he runs into Radio Raheem. Meanwhile,Mookie's trying to balance out his life between his job,girlfriend,and taking care of his sister. The film starts out as an uproarious comedy as the heat outside is relatively low but as it increases,so do the character's tensions as they all build up to a tragic event in the end. The meaning of the title connects to what Mookie does in retaliation to the tragic event that takes place and in the end,after two famous quotes (one from MLK and the other one from Malcolm X),you question yourself whether Mookie did the right thing or not.

The entire cast along with Spike Lee turn in pretty great performances. You can make a connection to all of these characters in some way and they're very relatable in some way. However,my favorite performance in the film is given by Danny Aiello as Sal. Sal usually shows compassion for the predominant black population of the town but his ambivalence towards them is increasing which leads to him finally letting his anger out in the end. You can really connect to his character's tendencies because he and his sons are the last Italians in the neighborhood which makes them the neighborhood minority. Aiello is very committed to the character and it was very deserving of his Best Supporting Actor nomination.

Spike Lee does a fantastic job at exploring the race relations between these characters. He also shoots the film in a very colorful way and has some great long takes for the film's key scenes. He isn't trying to provoke riots or protests from this film; he's just trying to show how far our racial problems can take us and end up destroying not only ourselves,but others who we hurt,too. Lee's screenplay and direction is very masterful as his characters are given some really great dialogue and his hand held camera in numerous scenes make you feel that you're there in the middle of the action.

Overall,Do The Right Thing is a brilliant landmark film of the late 80's and it may even go down as one of my favorite films of all-time. I haven't really got into Spike Lee's past films but after seeing this and Inside Man,I am really pulled into the rest of his work. I would also agree with most people who say that this film deserved more Oscar nominations than Best Supporting Actor and Best Original Screenplay because it is that great of a film. So how about all of you "do the right thing" and check this movie out as soon as you can.