Review Of Do The Right Thing By Spike Lee

The film Do the Right Thing (1989), director Spike Lee, tells the story of a mostly black community in Brooklyn. The plot follows 25-year-old pizza delivery man Mookie (played by Spike Lee) trough the hottest day of the year. Mookie has a sister and a son with his girlfriend. He knows he’s not gona work at the pizzeria for the rest of his life and that’s why he lacks the ambition. In an infamous neighbourhood in Brooklyn, where the story is playing out there are a few distinctive characters - Da Mayor (played by Ossie Davis), the local drunk; Mother Sister (played by Ruby Dee), who watches the neighbourhood from her window; Radio Raheem (payed by Bill Nunn), who never goes anywhere without his boombox. In Bedford-Stuyvesant, even though the

A comment made by one of Mookie’s friends – Buggin’ Out asking the owner Sal why there are no “brothers” on his Wall of Fame. The wall is full with framed pictures of famous Italian Americans. Sal’s response is that it’s his restaurant so he can do whatever he wants. This sparks up the huge argument that will later lead to the death of Mookie’s friend Raheem by a police officer and the destruction of the restaurant. In a review written by Roger Ebert on June 30th, 1989 – the day the film opened for a wide audience after being premiered during Cannes Film Festival in May – he simply states that the film is controversial. In 2009, Ebert says that Do the Right Thing should’ve gotten an Oscar for best picture. The film created lots of conversation – viewers and critics thought its message will only create trouble and that it pushed the lines of political correctness. Part of the black community after seeing the film stated that it represented black people badly even though Spike Lee’s world in the film shows a mostly quiet neighbourhood with a sense of community. That was far from the image

He is a mentally disabled man who sells hand drawn pictures of Malcom X and Martin Luther King. He is the one who comes into the restaurant after the carnage and sets it on fire. While the flames take over Smiley puts up a picture of the two civil rights leaders on the teared up Wall of Fame. Spike Lee also uses two quotes from the two men respectively at the end of his film. The first, from Martin Luther King Jr., speaks of nonviolence: "The old law of an eye for an eye leaves everybody blind." The second quote, from Malcolm X is something different: "I don't even call it violence when it's self-defense, I call it intelligence." That states a lot about the meaning of the film and especially what the film meant during the 80’s. Martin Luther King was prominent civil rights activist who preached nonviolent civil disobedience that was based on his Christian beliefs. Malcom X was an Imam (Muslim Priest) and after being imprisoned for larceny and breaking and entering he became one of the most influential men of his time. Completely different from Martin Luther King, he promoted black supremacy, advocated the segregation between black and white Americans, and rejected the civil rights movement for their striving for integration in America. Obviously completely different in their beliefs, still Spike Lee uses a picture of them shaking hands in the film and maybe that represents Mookie as a character. He is peaceful in the