Week 12: Do the Right Thing
"Mookie- Hey Mookie!"
"Yes, Sir."
"Always do the right thing."
"Is that it?"
"That's it."
"I got it, I'm gone."
-A Conversation between Da Mayor and Mookie
Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing is not an easy film to review. To this day, I still don't know what the "right thing is". It is the core question of the movie.
It's the hottest day of the summer in the Bedford-Suyvesant neighborhood in Brookyn. Mookie (Spike Lee) is spending his day working at Sal's Pizzeria, a staple of the neighborhood. Sal (Danny Aiello) is a loud, abrasive, yet also loving man. He cares about the people in the neighborhood. He has been running the pizzeria for over 20 years, and for the last five or so has been running it with his two sons Pino (John Turturro), a closet racist who hates the neighborhood, and Vito (Richard Edson) a non-racist who is good friends with Mookie.
The neighborhood is populated with people we will almost immediately begin to love. They include Radio Raheem (Bill Nunn) who constantly has a boom box blaring Public Enemy's "Fight the Power," Buggin' Out (Giancarlo Esposito) a very tense instigator, Tina(Rosie Perez) Mookie's girlfriend and the mother to his child, Da Mayor (Ozzie Smith) the neighborhood patriarch with a drinking problem and Mother-Sister (Ruby Dee) the neighborhood matriarch. Senor Love Daddy (Samuel L. Jackson) narrates the soundtrack of the film from his radio studio.
All of these characters will intersect with each other on this hot day. Most of them will be given the opportunity to do the right thing. The paradox of the picture, of course, is that doing the right thing is almost always based on perception.
Buggin' Out is upset with Sal. Sal has a wall of fame in his pizzeria that consists of picutres of famous Italians, including Robert De Niro, Al Pacino and Frank Sinatra. Sal is proud of his Italian Heritage, and wants to celebrate that on his wall. Buggin' Out is angry that there are no famous Black Americans on the wall. After all, the neighborhood is predominantly black, as are the majority of the customers. Sal politely advises Buggin' Out that if he opens his own pizza parlor, he can put pictures of whomever he would like on the wall. Buggin' Out vows to boycott the pizzeria- on grounds of racism.
Who is right here, really? Both sides have valid points, but the resolution to the conflict is grounded in an almost stubborn adherence to principles. Neither side reasons with compromise, instead they stick to their guns and are resentful. One could argue that this is the paramount cause of pretty much all racism in America- the failure to compromise with respect to our differences.
One of the movie's most interesting characters is Radio Raheem. Raheem is silent throughout the majority of the film. As he walks down the streets we constantly hear the lyrics:
Our freedom of speech is freedom or death
We’ve got to fight the powers that be
Lemme hear you say
Fight the power
Lemme hear you say
Fight the power
Lemme hear you say
Fight the powers that be.
Raheem also has an excellent sequence (torn directly from The Night of the
Hunter)where he explains the meaning of his brass knuckles. One is engraved with LOVE, the other with HATE.
“Let me tell you the story of "Right Hand, Left Hand." It's a tale of good and evil. Hate: It was with this hand that Cane iced his brother. Love: These five fingers, they go straight to the soul of man. The right hand: the hand of love. The story of life is this: Static. One hand is always fighting the other hand; and the left hand is kicking much ass. I mean, it looks like the right hand, Love, is finished. But, hold on, stop the presses, the right hand is coming back. Yeah, he got the left hand on the ropes, now, that's right. Ooh, it's the devastating right and Hate is hurt, he's down. Hate, K.O’ed by love.”
Sal wants peace and quiet in his restaurant. Raheem wants to fight the power. As soon as the police get involved with the brawl, Radio Raheem is strangled to death. Never mind the fact that Sal busted Raheem's radio with a baseball bat. Every character is doing what they feel is right. In what must be one of the cinema's most shocking endings, a riot ensues. Sal's is burnt to the ground. The neighborhood erupts in violence and anger.
Here is a film about cause and effect in its most elementary forms. Lee was only 32 years old when he made this picture, and his youth comes through in the films energy but never in its skill. It is always energetic, funny, brilliant and colorful. These characters could have easily been broad stereotypes (Friday) but instead are all living breathing human beings. This is the skill of his writing ability. The visual sense in which everything comes together is his voice as a director. Lee has made other great films, but this is the apex of his artistry.
I am always saying that the movies are important because they can force social change and understanding. There has never been an art form that can more effectively do this. We see exactly what the director wants us to see and hear the words of the screenplay. Literature can tell deeper stories, but films create experiences that can be shared communally. Do the Right Thing is an excellent example of a film that forces us to emphasize with all characters. We understand and relate to Mookie, Sal, Tina, Buggin' Out, Mother Sister and Da Mayor. We feel their pain and where they are coming from.
I am not sure if there has ever been a better snapshot of racial relations in America. Every single person in the film is doing the right thing (in their minds) yet their ideas are engrained in an almost profound sense of deep seeded resentment. The film is a modern masterpiece because of this. It never takes sides- it allows the camera to be objective; it shows all of the characters as they are, strengths and weaknesses. The meaning of the film is not one that can really be dissected in a cookie cutter way, but I am pretty sure i get it. The film is not really trying to say anything other than- "Surely we can do better than this."
Review and Analysis by Shaun Henisey
Cast and Credits:
Mookie: Spike Lee
Sal: Danny Aiello
Da Mayor: Ozzie Davis
Mother Sister: Ruby Dee
Vito: Richard Edson
Buggin Out: Giancarlo Esposito
Radio Raheem: Bill Nunn
Pino: John Turturro
Tina: Rosie Perez
Mister Senor Love Daddy: Samuel L. Jackson
Universal Pictures presents a film Produced, Written and Directed by Spike Lee. Photography by Ernest Dickerson. Music by Bill Lee.
Running Time: 120 Minutes. Rated R for violence, graphic language, and adult situations.