A review of the 1989 classic movie “Do The Right Thing”
African-American Spike Lee is absolutely an auteur. In this, his most seminal film, he is writer, producer and director and takes the role of the viewpoint character.Set on one, blisteringly hot day in Brooklyn, we follow Lee’s Mookie, a 25 year old delivery man for a local pizzeria run by an Italian-American family headed by Sal (Danny Aiello). From the very beginning with a hard-hitting song from Public Enemy, this is a film shaped by rap music and informed by righteous anger and the tension builds to an explosive and tragic climax. Yet there is humour and kindness too.
We are introduced to a whole range of colourful – in both sense of the word – men, women and youngsters who interact in a variety of ways that illustrate different views on race, religion and human nature. The background is literally the most colourful feature of the film with a a vibrant use of pigments from the palette.
The result is an immensely powerful and memorable work. Some have seen it as a ‘call to arms’ but Lee makes in clear, especially in his end quotes from Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, that ‘the right thing’ is to reject violence.
If you view the film on television, you might want to use the subtitles because the dialogue is fast and vernacular. Also be warned that a good deal of racist language is used and a particular four-letter word is almost ubiquitous.