Do The Right Thing, reviewed by Marc Foster

Spike Lee reveals a complex, and sometimes frustrating view of the cultural differences and racism during the 1980s in his film “Do the Right Thing”. The movie takes place throughout the hottest day of the summer as conflict arises between an Italian pizzeria owner and the dominantly black population of the neighborhood of Bed-Stuy in New York City. Spike Lee makes the film in a way that engages the audience in thinking about the responsibility and complexity of the people taking part in major conflicts. 

The central character Mookie, played by Spike Lee, works for Sal’s Famous Pizzeria owned by Italian man Sal, played by Danny Aiello. Mookie at first is a likable character, funny, and seems to keep the community of Bed-Stuy together. He is seen repeatedly handshaking and high fiving almost every character in the movie. However, as the title suggests, Mookie does things that make the audience question whether he is doing the right thing. 

            As director and one of the main actors in the movie, Spike Lee does a fantastic job of portraying the tension building up in the neighborhood. The cameras are used as avenues for the characters to talk directly to the audience not just other characters in the movie. The camera repeatedly looks directly at the person speaking as if the character is speaking to the viewer. This angle creates a tension between the viewer and the character, as if the viewer is being personally attacked by the character in the movie.

 After an intensely awkward and chilling confrontation between Mookie and Sal’s son Pino, played by John Turturro, a series of racist rants comes from characters in the movie talking directly at the viewer. During the confrontation between Mookie and Pino, Pino says that famous black artists, actors, and sports players, “are more than black. They’re different”, trying to justify himself liking these people. After this conversation a close up of Mookie on the street brings us away from the movie and into the conflicts affecting the time period. Mookie then makes a stream of racist comments about white people at the camera. This is one situation where the audience sees that Mookie, while trying to show Pino he should not be racist, is, in fact, racist himself. 

This movie was affective was because Spike Lee made it a lot more about the commentary of the time period and not on the story of the film. During the racist rants, it was if the characters were talking to the viewer, and insulting the viewer. Spike Lee was directly showing the audience the ineffectiveness of using these insults, by showing that these insults stemmed from hatred, and jealousy.

Spike Lee talked to the audience in this film, trying to show them that no one is fully right. His film incorporated odd camera angles, and characters that constantly contradicted themselves creating tension throughout movie, and finally exploding in the last scenes. In doing this he created a film in which none of characters are fully likable and right, but rather a film that is very real and speaks to the reality of the time period.