Spike Lee Archives - Sean Kelly On Movies

With Black Lives Matter being a major topic of conversation over the last month or so, I thought I would finally watch Spike Lee's 1989 breakthrough film Do the Right Thing. Set on an extremely hot day in the neighbourhood of Bedford–Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, Mookie (Lee) begins his workday as a pizza delivery boy for Sal (Danny Aiello) and his two sons Pino (John Turturro) and Vito (Richard Edson). Tensions begin building when Mookie's friend Buggin' Out (Giancarlo Esposito) is ejected for complaining about the lack of black people on Sal's wall, which builds up over the course of the day until its eruptive climax.Do The Right Thing was Spike Lee's third feature film and it is arguably the one the filmmaker is best known for. Lee himself plays the main protagonist of Mookie, who is working a dead-end job he is quite content with, even though it results in him neglecting his girlfriend Tina (Rosie Perez) and their young son. Mookie's block is filled with many notable characters, including Da Mayor (Ossie Davis), Mother Sister (Ruby Dee), Radio Raheem (Bill Nunn), Smiley (Roger Guenveur Smith), and regular radio broadcasts by Mister Señor Love Daddy (Samuel L. Jackson).Do the Right Thing is a film that can be best described for much of the film as a "hanging out on the block" story, where we see the many conversations and actions of the many individuals in this Brooklyn neighborhood. However, the tension slowly boils through the racist treatment of Mookie by Sal's oldest son Pino, as well as Buggin' Out's attempts to organize a boycott of Sal's Pizzaria.It is the sudden serious tonal shift in the final act of Do the Right Thing that really makes the film one that is a must-watch. Even though the film was made three decades ago, the themes of systemic racism and police brutality present within the climax remain quite relevant in today's climate, where frankly not all that much has changed. As one of the few non-black protagonists in the film, Danny Aiello portrays Sal for the most part as a neutral party, who is proud to have served the community for 25 years, even though the neighborhood has moved on to be primarily African American. However, the tense and violent climax of Do the Right Thing ends up bringing out the worst in Sal, forever changing his place in this community.Of course, a discussion of Do the Right Thing wouldn't be complete without talking about how the film ended up being snubbed at the Academy Awards, in favor of the retroactively more problematic 1990 Best Picture-winning Driving Miss Daisy, which I have yet to see. In fact, Do the Right Thing only got two nominations, for Best Original Screenplay and Best Supporting Actor for Danny Aiello. Spike Lee's Oscar misfortunes repeated somewhat in 2019, as Green Book won Best Picture over Lee's BlacKkKlansman, even though he did end up winning for the screenplay.Overall, I will have to say that Do the Right Thing is the signature film by Spike Lee that remains just as relevant today, as it was in 1989 when Public Enemy rapped "Fight the Power."

Premium Classics: Do the Right Thing

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