9.06.2009

Do the Right Thing (1989)

For me Do the Right Thing was synonymous with Spike Lee, even though I had never seen the film - it's the movie that launched this director into the record books as one of the most talented directors ever. I figured it was time to see the film.


It's a scorcher in Bed-Stuy - the notoriously violent borough in NYC. While everyone gets along for the most part and as the day progresses, it seems like people can take just about anything. Hispanics, Blacks, Vietnamese and Italians go most of the day with out provoking anything but words out of their neighbours until some people begin to snap in a pizzaria.

The film is punctuated with Public Enemy's "Fight the Power" which really speaks for what is lurking in everyone's heart - a desire for good, but a desire for justice as well. The ending for me was ambiguous which kept the film from being preachy and kept the question alive: What is the right thing?

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