Do the Right Thing

Spike Lee's film, Do the Right Thing  was one of the most controversial movies of its time. Reflecting the current state of race relations in America, many people were unable to handle it because the issue was not displaced. All of the tension, conflict and emotional energy is completely in your face and is not diffused to a secondary, less inflammatory focus that most people are used to and able to understand. According to the Desson Howe's article in the Washington post, "Lee has fused political message, gripping drama and community comedy with finesse. Whether or not you agree with his provocative views (and late in the movie some of his conclusions could upset the most open-minded of viewers), there's no doubt about the film's sheer power and taut originality."

The story is set on the hottest day of the year in Brooklyn's Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood. Tensions are height and still growing because the only local businesses in the a Black community is coming from a Korean grocery and an Italian American owned Pizzeria (Sal's Pizzeria). Mookie, played by Spike Lee, is a Black delivery boy for Sal who essentially acts as the ambassador between his family and the Black and Hispanic community. Now, this is not the typical urban cityscape we've seen in in a number of action movies about violence and guns and drugs. People people live here and they accept one another. There are problems within the neighborhood but there is also a sense of community.


 Buggin Out, a social militant and activistcreates a disturbance when he decides that Sal's Pizzeria needs to support a black community because that is who all of his customers are. He demands to have honored and famous black men on his wall instead of just the white Italians. Sal refuses and kicks him out. Later, Buggin Out comes back with support and creates a huge brawl with ends in a death from the police. "Lee does not tell you what to think about it, and deliberately provides surprising twists for some of the characters, this movie is more open-ended than most. It requires you to decide what you think about it," writes Robert Elbert in his review in SunTimes.

This film not only creates tension between the characters but also with the viewers watching it. I was extremely torn between whose side to be on. The binary opposite lines of good and evil are blurred and create dissonance that at times, made it hard for me to digest. But either way, there is no question that this movie is hear to make a statement. The message it gives stems from two major black influences of the Civil Rights, MLK and Malcom X. Violence is both impractical and immoral but is it wrong to use it in self defence? Again, Lee does not give you the answer, but provokes the audience to decide. Do the right thing.