Review of Do the Right Thing (1997) by James N — 17 Sep 2010

My God, I realize that we've all been acting wrongly towards Spike Lee. We praise him for this poignant tale about racism (and the ways to combat it: civil disobedience or revolution) and then we criticize his own opinion on how he thinks Hollywood's acting. Yeah - we're a bunch of hypocrites.

Now, not being a big Spike Lee fan, I was afraid this film was going to be what people said it was: the biggest of all pro-black films ever made. Like a modern-day blaxploitation film without the useless sex and gratuitous violence. I didn't expect this to be one of the most perfect films ever made - amazing visuals, great form, one of the greatest usages of mise-en-scene, tight script (very Wilderesque), and some of the greatest pieces of character development I haven't seen since "Easy Rider". I didn't expect it to be a film that makes everybody ask their own questions - especially the question about valuing material possessions over human life.

For those who have not seen or heard of the film, this is a tale about a typical day in Brooklyn that goes horribly wrong when somebody realizes that maybe pride isn't going to necessarily work in a world powered by love. This somebody is not one, but two revolutionaries: Buggin' Out and Radio Riaheem. Whereas Buggin' is proactive, Radio is extremely reactive - taking himself to be the embodiment of the struggle between love and hate. In the middle of this is Da Mayor, a drunkard who went through hell and back and is merely trying to redeem his life; Mother-Sister, the mother figure to the neighborhood who despises Da Mayor; Mr. Sr. Love Daddy, a figure trying to call out for love just when the tension gets high; and Spike Lee himself aka Mookie, the embodiment of the average human: fueled by both reactionary hate and revolutionary love. When all those stars align (and when the pizza place becomes quite bigoted due to the efforts of one John Turturro instilling racial stereotypes into his family's head), this can only lead to revolution - which has to happen in order for human life to be spared. Mookie knows this - nobody gets killed....not even the "enemy". In that sense, he did the right thing.

This film is extremely iconic and loved by America - it serves as a sort of modern-day "Nashville" in the sense that it delves deep into the American psyche and deconstructs what we consider sacred (race relations, hard-working man, marriages, respect, family, revolution) into its darker meaning. Everybody's up at arms, we're too distracted to work, marriages are always falling apart, respect is rarely given to those who deserve it, family is not what it seems, and revolution, while beneficial, does instill some of the darkest things humanity has come up with.

Now, as I say, 15+ can see this. The language is more of less with the feel of the neighborhoods, the sex is very minimal, and the riot scene is disturbing - but not that much (as say, "A Clockwork Orange"). So, for those who want to go see something, get off the couch, go to Blockbuster, and rent this. You will not regret it. If you do, then I don't know what to say. You're backwards, I guess.