Do the Right Thing - A. Leksell

            Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing (1989) was not an easy movie to watch. His intention was to cause controversy and I think he succeeded. Lee didn’t give any answers, but he certainly made you ask the questions. Roger Ebert commented that “Lee’s writing and direction [were] masterful throughout the movie…but he [held] his cards close to his heart…so the movie [was] hard to predict, hard to anticipate.” As Radio Raheem told us the story of love versus hate, we had no idea that he would be faced with this same scenario later in the movie, but it was Lee’s intention all along. Spike Lee was gifted in making movies that made people question their own actions. He wanted people to “wake up” to issues that needed attention. According to Jim Emerson, “nobody else in America is making movies that enrage, entertain, and challenge viewers that way Spike Lee does.” I agree that Spike Lee is not afraid to tackle tough issues. Do the Right Thing made people ask themselves what they would’ve done, especially in the riot at the end. I kept thinking, if only this or if only that, but then I also couldn’t stop myself from thinking, what would I have done?

            Desson Howe of the Washington Post pointed out one of the harder aspects of this movie for me. Introducing the characters, Howe tells us about Sal and his sons who “have fed the locals for years but still skimp on the cheese.” The locals eating at Sal’s establishment provide for his family, but he isn’t generous at all. In fact, he is almost rude to some of them. When people ask for more cheese, he tells them “extra cheese is $2.00.” He isn’t willing to give on this one small thing and that is hinting to the real feelings he has for his customers. The explosion of anger Sal has at the end was expected throughout the entire movie.

            The camera contributed a lot to Do the Right Thing. There were handheld shots during the riot, making you feel like you were there, and close-ups of facial expressions to stress emotions. Low angle shots were used when Lee wanted people to realize the person talking was saying something of importance or felt they were. Whenever emotions were questioned, the camera shifted to an oblique angle, emphasizing uncertainty, like when Da Mayor realized he liked Mother Sister. I especially like the shots where it seemed like the characters were talking to the camera. I think that was Spike Lee’s way of making the audience aware he was talking to us.

I found a lot of the mise en scene dealt with actor placement, though the framing of these characters and colors played a key role as well. In one particular scene, Mookie is talking to Sal after his friend gets kicked out. Sal is in the center while Mookie is stuck off to the left side, the weaker part of the screen, emphasizing his insignificance and Sal’s importance. Another thing I noticed that from inside the pizza shop, there was always something happening on the other side of the big, plate glass window, whether it was the Korean market activity or the mentally challenged man selling his pictures. Sal may have worked in that neighborhood, but he never allowed himself to be fully accepted. He put a wall up between himself and his patrons, admittedly built with his own two hands. That same wall was shattered by a garbage can thrown surprisingly by Mookie. The final scene with Mookie and Sal shows them in front of the remains of the pizzeria, shaded in red to convey their anger, money thrown between them, and separated by more than just space. I asked myself at the end of this movie, when Sal rebuilds, will he do so in the same location?