Film Review of Do the Right Thing
Film Review of Do the Right ThingThe Reality of the Melting Pot
Tempers explode, emotions take charge, and a Italian-run pizzeria in a black Brooklyn neighborhood becomes the center of a violent conflict on a hot summer day in Spike Lee�s Do the Right Thing.
The film is a day-in-the-life of the Bedford-Stuyvesant community and it is one of the hottest days of the summer. Much of the action takes place around or inside the Sal�s Famous Pizzeria, owned and operated by Sal (Danny Aiello) and his sons Vito (Richard
Edson) and Pino (John Turturro). The restaurant has been in the neighborhood for years and many of the kids have grown up on his pizza. Sal remained in the neighborhood as it became predominately black as he showed pride and a love for the neighborhood. And
over the years he has built a tradition of good relationships with his black customers. The story follows Mookie, the delivery boy for the pizza parlor, as he struggles to �do the right thing� throughout the day. The events are set in motion when violence that breaks
out is between two neighborhood black teens, Buggin� Out (Giancarlo Esposito) and Radio Reheem (Bill Nunn), and Sal. They are upset that there are no black photos displayed on the wall of the pizzeria. Radio Reheem ends up being murdered at the hands of the police. The community turns against Sal and the pizzeria and a riot breaks out, in which his pizzeria is destroyed.
In Do the Right Thing, the subject is not just a struggle between races, but racial tension and miscommunication. Lee�s point is to show the way race affects the lives of those in America. He has focused his story on African-American characters, and how they
relate to each other. Its central main character is Mookie, played by Lee himself, a friendly, yet irresponsible pizza delivery man and part-time father who is too immature to accept the responsibilities that take hold of him. There are many different culture clashes
that take place within the city block. Italian, Black, Puerto Rican, and Korean descendants occupy the neighborhood. Lee creates different stories that takes place between different characters, in which they play off one another. The large ensemble cast
is excellent. There's Mookie, that is played by Lee himself, who takes on the world and tries to make everything right, failing in the end; Sal (Aeillo), Vito (Edson), and Pino (Turturro), all struggle to have their pizzeria succeed all the while trying to intertwine
with the black community; Mookie's sister Jade (Lee's real sister, Joie Lee), who's tired of having him in her apartment; Smiley (Roger Guenveur Smith), who has a deeper message about Martin Luther King and Malcolm X; Radio Raheem (Nunn) and Buggin� Out (Esposito),...
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