Review of Jungle Fever (1994) by Rhiannon P — 09 Jun 2010

Material that is certainly familiar to Spike Lee, who has never shied away from any controversy surrounding racial issues, but what makes Spike so great as how complex of a story he can craft from the topic and how well he can film the material.

The film feels as if it is shot as a play at some points, which is actually smart because the intimacy and highly personal qualities of the material come out as a result. Wesley Snipes and Annabella Sciorra are terrific as the chastised couple in the film, especially Snipes, who is usually filmed with a strong measure of machismo and bravado, but in this film seems restrained yet attempting to function under intense pressure.

Of course the most prominent performance in this film is not from the leads but from Samuel L. Jackson, playing a pathetic yet likeable crack addict, a performance he began filming only two weeks after he had finally overcome his own addiction to cocaine.

There is a stirring authenticity to his performance that lights up the screen each time, and it is interesting to note that it is his character with all of the unsavory habits that is the most accepting and unphased by the interracial relationship at the heart of the picture.

Spike does go a little over the top with the trials and tribulations the couple faces, and while this hurts the film at moments it is forgiven because it is usually executed with very strong performances that overcome any lack of realism the scene might not have.

It also ends up being somewhat acceptable because this is overall meant to be a dissection of interracial relationships and all of the perspectives present therein. The film effectively shows the spectrum of perspectives without attempting to champion one view or the other; granted the film does make you sympathize with the couple but they also make several mistakes that show them as flawed human beings and possessing of their own reasons for guilt.

The usual Lee trademarks are here, including hard-hitting but well composed racial dialogue, the infamous Lee "floating" shots, the competent tracking, and the willingness to never treat the material with nervous restraint.