Review of Do the Right Thing (1997) by Santiago P — 26 Nov 2011

This is a striking film set in non other than Bed-Stuy neighborhood in Brooklyn. Back when the neighborhood was at is most infamous. The film is a beautiful kaleidoscope of characters and cliches, which work all day.

The score is great, the comedy is awesome and the film in itself is enjoyable. Now, did Mookie did the right thing? The question was answered by Dave Chapelle decades later, in his nervously Bamboozled-like (Yes, I did.

I have since the beginning) show "The Chapelle Show": He did not, he kept it real. By doing what he did, Mookie only contributed to the wrong image of the neighborhood, that most likely led to more poverty, more injustice by the police and indirectly fucked many of his peers whom he was standing up for in the first place.

Violence as a mean of self-defence is not intelligence as alleged by the Malcom-X message at the end of the movie, it is just violence, which is destructive. The less violence self-defence includes the better, after all this is a game where the fittest survives, not the strongest.

It is true that injustice frustrates and those in power only use it to elongate their term but this is only a big reason why those in struggle must jump two slots at a time. And that is only done with smarts and outwitting your opponent.

But a mass of people will always be that, the average of its peers drenched in human nature. Call it culture, education, genes or a mix of all of the above, we are who we are and if wether we will change is only a matter of time.