Artivels Undescribable Perfection

Lightdeossk Captivating movie !

Matrixiole Simple and well acted, it has tension enough to knot the stomach.

Ginger Very good movie overall, highly recommended. Most of the negative reviews don't have any merit and are all pollitically based. Give this movie a chance at least, and it might give you a different perspective.

bkdevries An amazing, creative, thoughtful treatise on racism. It shows how the simmering undercurrent of anger against injustice and racism can be ignited by something so simple as an unintended slight, a lack of respect shown for a photo on the wall (or lack of). Then, at the end, it underlines that racism is an endemic disease of institutions and systems, symptomatic of an entrenched culture versus an emergent culture, rather than one on one relationships (except for stranger with stranger encounters).

junkasaisuperfan Why is this movie called "DO THE RIGHT THING"? Everyone does the wrong thing, This is a film that promotes racial hatred & bigotry while glorifying violence towards anyone who doesn't fit your profile of acceptable racial acceptance. Glorified racially motivated hate film.

TheFilmFreak1 The reputation 'Do the Right Thing' gained upon its release as a racially incendiary picture has defined both the film itself and the reputation of its director and star, Spike Lee. Its rather pessimistic depiction of urban race relations had many people fearing it would incite the African-American community to riot. Their main qualm was that a piece of 'white property' was destroyed because of a riot that the film's main character incites. The same people, however, mostly forgot that a black man lost his life to police brutality first. Lee took, and still takes, offense against those mainstream critics who almost seemed to both suggest that black people could so easily be persuaded to destroy public property and that white property took precedence over black life. That critics also complained about the way the film portrayed a black, 'ghetto' community in a reasonably positive light only served to aggravate Lee further.And now in the era of increased accusations from conservatives towards liberals for 'race baiting' - educating or highlighting instances of institutional racism -, the tensions 'Do the Right Thing' created at the end of the 80's have become thematically relevant and rich to the contemporary viewer as they were during that earlier, quite neo-conservative decade. But despite Lee's reputation for creating pictures that flirt with Black militancy and supremacy (I personally find this not so common among his films as in his personality), DTRT's framing as 'a black picture' does a disservice to the universality of its perspectives, from the rough but benevolent white pizzeria owner Sal (Danny Aielo) to the lazy and rather selfish but lovable protagonist Mookie (Lee). The relationship between these two is fundamentally the key focus of the film, with the giant and seemingly threatening Radio Raheem (Bill Nunn) the lighting rod that tests their already fragile friendship. By the end, we have seen both men's point-of-view and are hurt not only by the death and destruction that has snowballed from what was originally a minor complaint from the belligerent Buggin' Out (an unrecognisable Giancarlo Esposito), but also by how the conflict has divided them for reasons that to both men seem so unfair.Lee has been clear that he sides with his own protagonist by the film's end, and the film itself supports this by how Mookie ultimately loses little compared to Sal (though unlike the friend Mookie loses, the pizzeria Sal loses is recoverable). However, Lee rather optimistically has the two cautiously reconcile, and with that a hope for tranquility and even equality between the two, and by extension Blacks and Whites of the US, can be inferred.The film remains one of the best examinations of American racial politics. Its dialectical style, especially its subversion of political melodrama archetypes (the sympathetic minority victim, the brutal racist, etc.), demonstrate an intent not to manipulate audiences into feeling pity for black people but to get them to think about why these humans of both races, with all their flaws and prejudices, are the way they are.As the film ends with two juxtaposed quotations from MLK and Malcolm X on the ethics of violent residence to oppressive regimes, we are left to wonder, with all that we have seen and heard, how we can respect each other as human beings without compromising our autonomy. Such a query should be so simple, but the world keeps making it so complicated.

framptonhollis Full of style, color, and humor, Spike Lee's masterpiece "Do The Right Thing" takes place during the hottest day of the year in a Brooklyn neighborhood. It explores the issue of racism in a powerful and brutal way, showing how every character has their own prejudices, and how some characters are far more villainous and hateful than others. Eventually, this hatred explodes into a finale that can only be described as shocking and chaotic.For a large portion of the film, I was smiling and laughing at all of the joyfulness and comedy that is packed into this somewhat depressing story. Although it's about a strong and mature topic, the film itself is entertaining, hilarious, and likable. But, it's still a very heavy film at times as well.Spike Lee portrays racism in a very powerful and meaningful way, and he doesn't just show whites oppressing blacks, which is refreshing to see, since it's a cliché in a film about race to show that all of the black characters are saints who don't have prejudices of their own. Pretty much every main character in "Do the Right Thing" has their own prejudice, some of them have far more mild prejudices than others, and some of them are far more kind than others. Characters like Radio Raheem and (especially) Buggin' Out are very hateful against the whites, and then characters like Pino are very hateful against the blacks. There's also characters who hold strong prejudices against Asian characters, and elderly characters. Overall, the film shows that hate can be inside of anybody, and can be directed to anybody.Unfortunately, it seems like many people seem to be interrupting the film all wrong. Looking through message boards and reviews, some people may have the idea that "Do the Right Thing" supports the actions of Radio Raheem and Buggin' Out, but they're wrong. Based on the film I watched, the Italian pizzeria owner Sal is actually supposed to be somewhat likable. He cares for and likes his customers, unlike his son Pino, a very racist and unsympathetic character, and Pino comes across as the polar opposite as his very likable and friendly brother Vito. Sadly, Sal unleashes all of his hatred at the end of the film, when Buggin' Out and Radio Raheem unleash their own hatred. Mookie, a very likable black character, is also pushed to the limit at the end of the film. So both Sal and Mookie are good people who are pushed to their limit and unleash hatred, while characters like Da Mayor and Vito are never really filled with hate and remain likable for the entirety of the film, and other characters like Buggin' Out and Pino are very racist and unlikable for the entirety of the film.At least, this is how I interpreted the film.