#96 Do the Right Thing (1989)
Da Mayor: Doctor.
Mookie: C'mon, what. What?
Da Mayor: Always do the right thing.
Mookie: That's it?
Da Mayor: That's it.
Mookie: I got it, I'm gone.
Here I was, patiently waiting for this movie to arrive at the library, and it turns out it is streaming on Netflix.
This is an intense, racially charged movie, and not for the faint of heart. In that way, it reminds me a little of Crash.It's really tough material to watch.
For me, coming from a very different environment, it doesn't resonate as well as it potentially could with others. It is difficult to relate, but it is powerful subject matter, and makes you think.
Now, I may have this all wrong, and may be missing Spike Lee's point, but it felt like the depiction of a day in the life of a racially tense slum asks us to consider the two different takes on violence by Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr presented at the end. It ends with a quote from each man, and a picture of them together. Both men pushed for change, but MLKJ disapproved of violence, and Malcolm X felt it could be necessary to bring about change. I fall on MLKJ's side. The violence that erupts at the end of the movie didn't seem to help anything, only resulting in more unhappiness and hatred.
It follows multiple characters in a poor New York City neighborhood. The population is mostly African American, but is intermixed with Hispanics, Koreans, Italians, etc. Most of these people do not seem to get along at all. While I did see lot of love and friendship, there is also so much hate within the neighborhood (not just between the different groups, but within them), so much profanity and hostility and conflict that by the time things really go to hell and a riot breaks out (the result of the death of a black man who was killed by police while they were trying to break up a fight between him and an Italian-American pizzeria owner), I was mostly surprised it hadn't happened sooner. People are constantly yelling at each other, cussing at each other (the f-word is thrown around practically every other word), insulting each other -it's stressful just to watch. For example:
Buggin' Out: You almost knocked me down, man. the word is "excuse me."Clifton: Ah, excuse me, I'm sorry.
Buggin' Out: Not only did ya knock me down, you stepped on my brand-new white Air Jordan's I just bought, and that's all you can say is "excuse me"?
Clifton: What, are you serious?
Buggin' Out: Yeah, I'm serious, I'll fuck you up quick two times.
Punchy: Two times.
Buggin' Out: Who told you to step on my sneakers, who told you to walk on my side of the block, who told you to be in my neighborhood?
Clifton: I own this brownstone.
Buggin' Out: Who told you to buy a brownstone on my block, in my neighborhood, on my side of the street? Yo, what you wanna live in a Black neighborhood for, anyway? Man, motherfuck gentrification.
Is it realistic? I don't know, because I didn't grow up in that type of atmosphere, but it's pretty shocking if it is. It's just too far outside of my realm of experience for me to really judge the movie's realism.
Entertainment-wise, it's compelling, and the characters are developed well. My favorite was Da Mayor, an elderly gentlemen treated with respect by some, and disdain by others. He was interesting and likeable. But like I said, it's stressful, and I doubt I would watch it again.
Here are the quotes from the end of the movie:
"Violence as a way of achieving racial justice is both impractical and immoral. It is impractical because it is a descending spiral ending in destruction for all. The old law of an eye for an eye leaves everybody blind. It is immoral because it seeks to humiliate the opponent rather than win his understanding; it seeks to annihilate rather than to convert. Violence is immoral because it thrives on hatred rather than love. It destroys a community and makes brotherhood impossible. It leaves society in monologue rather than dialogue. Violence ends by defeating itself. It creates bitterness in the survivors and brutality in the destroyers." - Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.
"I think there are plenty of good people in America, but there are also plenty of bad people in America and the bad ones are the ones who seem to have all the power and be in these positions to block things that you and I need. Because this is the situation, you and I have to preserve the right to do what is necessary to bring an end to that situation, and it doesn't mean that I advocate violence, but at the same time I am not against using violence in self-defense. I don't even call it violence when it's self-defense, I call it intelligence." - Malcolm X
An interesting question to me is: Which side does the movie endorse, or does it not take a stance? I'm still not sure after thinking about it further. Perhaps it is for the viewers to decide.
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