Do the Right Thing

"Why are all these actors yelling at me?"
(Worth A Look)

"Do the Right Thing" was made in 1989, the period directly before Spike Lee discovered that dialogue is much more effective when characters deliver it to EACH OTHER, instead of directly at the camera; as such, it plays like "Carnal Knowledge" juiced up with racism and other thought provoking subject matter. But while Lee's third full length film may be a more powerful, enlightening experience, it lacks the overall impact of Ann Margaret's breasts.

You know, I really can't get a handle on this movie. Is it great? Does it suck? I think it falls somewhere in between. Certainly it has great aspects--the cinematography, the score, the acting (ESPECIALLY the acting). . . They all add up, they all make this a worthwhile experience.

But...You know, of all the things that piss me off when I'm watching a movie, the one thing I truly detest is when a filmmaker hops on the ole soapbox and starts preaching. I've never really considered "Do the Right Thing" to be that kind of film--it's so entertaining, so packed with things to watch and hear and just EXPERIENCE, that you barely notice how the actors address the camera, how certain scenes of dialogue refuse to flow naturally, and how Lee completely throws all aesthetic sense out the window when it comes down to the final scenes and all hell is breaking loose.

That's really what capped it for me last night when I was watching the film again. "Do the Right Thing" starts off as a simple "over the course of one day" story, introducing us to a bunch of characters and offering up a lot of things for us to think about (most of the characters are racist in one way or another; the film also deals with themes of parental responsibility, the bonds of community, and police brutality); then in the last half hour it gets out of control and Lee loses his grip.

Now, granted, there are very few filmmakers who could keep a leash on the last act of this film, effectively contain so much chaos. But Spike goes about it completely wrong. Instead of trying to capture the static of the situation, he offers up close ups of all the actors' faces while they scream profanities and just generally look nervous, a technique that coils up your gut, but in the wrong way. When I see something like this, I want to be terrorfied and confused. What Lee does gives you all the confusion you could possibly handle, but with no solid string of horror.

By this point you might be thinking that I'm of the opinion that "Do the Right Thing" is a bad film, when the exact opposite is actually true. When you're working with a series of events this complicated, this morally thorny, the ending is rarely going to turn out the way you want it to (and I have a history of agreeing with Spike Lee's filmmaking methods about once upon a blue moon).

I give solid props to "Do The Right Thing" simply because it tries in spots where most other films coast along and rely on formula; Lee's pleasure in provoking the audience is displayed in a consistently brazen fashion, but this is one movie that will actually make you think about the events that take place, reconsider your beliefs, and question what is commonly held as right. Yeah, it's *that* good.

A lot of the film's power comes from the actors--the cast is knock-on-wood, from Danny Aiello, as an Italian American who's been running a successful pizzeria in the middle of an all-black neighborhood for twenty-five years, to Giancarlo Esposito, as the seemingly harmless neighborhood loudmouth/troublemaker, to Lee himself, as a heavy lidded, irresponsible pizza boy. The characters may just be generalizations standing in for attitudes and philosophies, but the performances make it work, make the word seem concrete and real.

Lee's direction serves to tie the various segements of the film into a cohesive whole, uniting a million different plot strands into one blazing manifestation of urban rage. From the very beginning, we are swept along, taken into the minimal story and made to care about the people we're watching. The process is aided heavily by one of the most beautiful, aching scores in recent years, composed by Lee's father and performed by Branford Marsalis.

"Do the Right Thing" is a good film that falls just short of being great; it has most of the ingredients but falters in its final moments. That's a shame, but the rest of the movie survives, and should definitely be watched (repeatedly). Various aspects will rub various people the wrong way, but everyone's going to find something they can relate to, or believe in, or identify with. And isn't that kind of director-audience connection the most beautiful thing of all?