Do the Right Thing

I felt that Do the Right Thing should have been included in the AFI's Top 100. It has remained a powerful and moving film that I cannot stop thinking about years after its release. All of the elements so beautifully coalesce: the acting (from Turturro to Davis to Harris to Esposito; its all superb), the cinematography (Dickerson's extreme angles and vivid color scheme perfectly contribute to the feeling of heat), the screenplay (funny and light catapults to poignant and fierce in the blink of an eye), and the direction (Lee is never afraid to take huge risks in his technique). Everything pays off double. This is one of the best movies I have ever seen.

I went to see a free showing of this film the other night, in light of recent events. Where a younger version of myself would have maybe shrugged and thought 'Well, this is an extreme depiction of reality', I now realize that it is not.

Do the Right Thing is a beautiful mix of comedy, great narration (what movie introduces an entire block of characters and makes you care about each of them?), intense dialogue and a very dark, grueling reality we live in, today. Not just in the United States, but everywhere in the world.

Unfortunately it cannot be fully called a historical drama yet. But hopefully, some day in the future we can watch this, have a chuckle and weep tears of sadness for the past in which racism, prejudice, bigotry and police brutality was commonplace. Until then: let's spread this movie out like a virus. It's been 30 years with hardly any change, the previous generations haven't been able to eradicate the evil that is racism. Let's do our best to make a difference.

90% of Spike Lee's masterpiece Do the Right Thing is a perfectly developed character study of a wide range of model personalities who all happen to be in Bedford-Stuyvesant on the hottest day of the summer. What the other ten percent consists of you will have to discover for yourself.

This ingenious film explores extremes, but never gives itself over to stereotypes as its plot cleverly navigates through the politics of inner city life and the struggles of American racism. As an artful and intelligent examination of the ethics of violence and prejudice, Do the Right Thing is unparalleled. It implies a simple profound question - what is the 'right thing'? But steadfastly refuses to supply even a hint of an answer - appropriately leaving its central point entirely up to its audience. Instead, the film points to a different, perhaps more important question "Whose version of right is right for you?" There are a lot of good people, a lot of bad people, and a very realistic majority of people who are usually somewhere in the middle but also somewhat confused throughout this film. African American, Latino, East Asian and Italian American cultures form the dynamics of the relationships that drive the story, and conflict is their medium. Drawing from two incisive but different comments on violence from Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, Lee extrapolates his story and the ideas he wants to explore by showing us characters that are as real as they are exaggerated and somewhat unpredictable events that they create, are swept into or actively or passively participate in. Although the point of the film is not really critique, nobody is left unscathed.

I am not going to tell you what the film says - I can't, because it is, more than most films dealing in such a direct manner with the subject of race, open to interpretation. And what you bring to it will influence, but not determine what you take away from it. It is just that powerful.

Instead, I will simply give Do the Right Thing my highest recommendation.

Superbly written, edited, directed and filmed. Well acted (Danny Aiello, Ossie Davis, Giancarlo Esposito, Rosie Perez, Spike Lee and Richard Edson really stood out for me) and very nicely soundscaped, Do the Right Thing is the perfect film for a solitary night of reflection or for sharing with an intelligent group of friends. However, be forewarned, the film hits hard, and will disturb some people a great deal - especially those who feel a need for closure and resolution.

I find it a tremendous oversight that this film gets so little recognition. The American film institute couldn't find one place in one hundered American films for this cinematic masterpiece that pulls no punches . It got no academy award and most importantly I could not find one friend who had heard of it. I call this a tremendous oversight because the film is wonderful. I know that Spike Lee is a rather eccentric personality and is not well liked by everyone, but his films are brilliant and this is no exception.

For about the first two thirds of the movie the plot meanders around a section of New York City as the characters awaken and start their days. For this first two thirds we have a comedy that is funny because of the eccentric and wonderfully developed characters. The audience is pulled into the story by the rich dialogue and inventive cinematography. There is just some quality about this film that makes it seem so real. This all sets up for the imminent tragedy to be all the worse as a result of the connection the audience has with the movie.

Then the film explodes. Those who have seen it know what I mean and those who have not should see it. This last third of the film should not be explained, it must be experianced. In fact this whole film should be experianced. I can't say enough.

As a non white or non black person my self I view this film from a different perspective as I can't relate to either community. I understand Lee's message and point in the film and even after 30 years after the release, it is more relevant than ever. But for the character of Sal, he is punished for standing his ground. Should he have racially abused black people based on their race, no. But should he have been given the blame for the death of a black man, no. If Raheem killed Sal, which is definitely what he was trying by strangling him, the black community in the film wouldn't have been guilty for his death and say he deserved it. All he did was brake his radio. Sal saying that he only puts Italian American people on his wall is completely justified as he comes from a Italian heritage. If a white man entered the restaurant of a black man and said put up pictures of white men that wouldn't be seen as right. And it applies for both races, just because he is a white man doesn't mean he should be punished. Mookie's decision to boycott the restaurant and allow for the rest to burn down Sal's restaurant has no justification. I didn't understand Lee's point, was he trying to make black people look worse of better? To me it only represented what Americans think of the black community.