Do The Right Thing, written and directed by Spike Lee, is a portrayal of racial tensions in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn in the 1980s. The interaction of the many different people in this film was the epicenter of the story. Between the black, the white, the Puerto Rican, the Asian, the Italian-Americans it seems at the beginning of the film that these people are able to share their neighborhood in a modified peace, but at the end of the film it is unvelied that every person was living just on the edge of tolerance, and that even the slightest misunderstanding or difference in opinion is enough to set catastrophic events into motion that affect the entire neighborhood.
I hope that our urban neighborhoods have come a long way since then, and that people are able to live more peacefully amongst one another, but what Spike Lee showed is that you never know how much rage is bubbling just beneath the surface in another person or group of people. Coming from the background that I do, I hate to admit I'm more than blind to these issues, you could even call it naive.. and if you know me you know I would usually never admit to this. Spike shed light on this issue in a way that I wouldn't have expected. The ending scene showed the anger of the black community in a savage manner, one that definitely surprised me, and frankly distracted me from the bigger picture and message of the story. After reflecting on this film for about a week I was able to come away with a better impression of this tension and what it means for all of us.
My Rating:
Visual - 5
Acting - 4
Script/Plot - 6
Attention - 6
Emotion - 9
Total = 30/50
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