Do the Right Thing (1989)
Do the Right Thing
”On a scorching day in Brooklyn, tensions between ethnic groups reach a boiling point.”
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Why watch this film?
Though 'BlacKkKlansman' made the most noise in Spike Lee's career, winning him an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay, there is no higher excellence in his filmography than 'Do the Right Thing'. Impeccable from start to finish, the feature is a portrait of everyday life in a peripheral US neighborhood as it should be: a cauldron of various social and ethnic groups that is always ready to explode. As a narrative line, Lee - who also acts as one of the protagonists - directs the tension seen on the streets between the local black community and the owner of a pizzeria. He, after all, lives off these people, but distances himself as much as possible from black culture. On the wall of the establishment, only photos of white people. From this, the city is divided. One group wants to promote a boycott. Another wants to talk. Another wants to leave the pizza owner alone. Thus, in this conflict, one of the most emblematic scenes in cinema history is born. Also noteworthy is Spike Lee's sagacity in the script, which was able to blend with surprising authority the teachings of Martin Luther King (more pacifist and dialoguer between the black community and higher instances) and Malcolm X (who accepted more violent attacks). It is no wonder that it was nominated for the Oscar for Best Original Screenplay in 1990. More than a movie, 'Do the Right Thing' is a lesson in civility and an impeccable social analysis, which remains current even decades later.
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Plot summary
On the hottest day of the year on a street in the Bedford-Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn, everyone's hate and bigotry smolders and builds until it explodes into violence.
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