Do the Right Thing - 1989
Updated: Nov 18, 2022
This review may contain spoilers.
Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing is a masterwork unlike any other I've ever seen. Let me tell you something you probably already know - this is darn near perfect. But the question is WHY. What is it about this daring work that has landed it at or near the top of so many decade lists? In due time, I will enumerate the many reasons, but I think, above all, it is its ability to balance deftly on the edge of so many seeming opposites simultaneously.
For starters, this is a project constructed to be perfectly at home on the stage. It is littered with separate vignettes, characters soliloquizing in long asides, elevated dialogue which does not quite fit into its otherwise very real-world setting, and so much more. Yet, if this were shown merely in a theater, SO much of the filmmaking chops would be lost. Spike's use of Dutch angles to add tension and drama number in the dozens. He marries this to handheld camera shots and creative zooming and tracking throughout the film. Again and again he elevates the lowdown into high art.
Another area of such impressive equilibrium between opposites is the mix of comedy and drama in the proceedings. The film is so well penned overall, but some dialogue just pops with terrific line readings. For instance, the three old men on the corner are an antecedent to Friday if I've ever seen one. The verbal bashing and ball-busting between Sal's two sons is as amusing as it is, frankly, disturbing. There is much merriment, yet still the rage simmering and beginning to grow towards a boil under the surface is palpable.
And it makes sense. After all, this is a film written by a man wrestling with his own internal fury. The film is littered throughout with real life references to racial tension and police brutality. This goes far beyond the figureheads of M-M-Martin and M-M-Malcolm. The most obvious being the "Howard Beach incident" in which a black man was hunted down and killed after eating at a pizzeria. Then again, one character's demise closely mirrors the story of Michael Stewart's death at the hands of the police.
Finally, on the other side "of the tracks," passing mention is made to Alabama Commissioner Bull Connor, who staunchly opposed the Civil Rights protests with shows of force. These names and places appear ON THE LIPS of characters in the final 30 minutes of Do the Right Thing. Again, we have elevated speech to fit a just cause. Spike's opprobrium was warranted.
Beyond the tremendous writing and incisive and relevant commentary, this thing just has style for days. The colors are as vibrant as the words are sharp, the costumes as hot as the picture's sweltering city days. It opens on a sick dance sequence across varying locales, which doubles as one hell of a coming out party for newcomer Rosie Perez. Key scenes are punctuated with the memorable soundtrack, most notably the deliberate repetition of Public Enemy's "Fight the Power."
Each of the characters in this MASSIVE ensemble are so well-rounded and full feeling. Young and old. Ossie Davis and Ruby Dee alongside John Turturro and Joie Lee. Giancarlo Esposito and Bill Nunn are perhaps the best remembered as the live wire Buggin Out and the massive mountain of conviction Radio Raheem. But, down to a man (and woman), ALL of their work is extraordinary.
While I believe I've now indicated just how much I appreciate Do the Right Thing from top to bottom, what I perhaps find most remarkable is how even-keeled Spike remains. Despite his clear frustration (to say the least) with how events leading up to the film's conception had unfolded, he never really takes sides. And I mean that as broadly as possible. He does not side with the Koreans vs. the Blacks, the Italians vs. the Blacks or any other ethnicity on the streets.
He portrays some of the police as sardonic and disinterested in their own miscarriage of justice, even as he depicts the painful effects of rioting on local businessman. Moreover, Spike never really chooses between the ways of Martin and Malcolm either. He allows for the possibility of violent uprisings to occur in response to injustice. But, at the same time, he gives us a zoomed in view of the terror of loss and the cultural disintegration such mob mentalities leave in their wake.
So, I return to the top. This is a confounding admixture of twenty seemingly competing elements, dozens of lived-in characters, profound thematic depth and exploration, and significant tonal shifts balanced perfectly on a prodigious stack of spinning plates. Which is to say - a miracle. That may just be the best descriptor for Do the Right Thing of them all.
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