Do the Right Thing- Review
Tom Zarnick “Big Tom,” Slippery Rock University Film Student Blogger, Saturday, 6 July 2013 10:30 EST
Its Big Tom back for another review of a film Do the Right Thing 1989’s most controversial film of the year (Ebert.) This is another film that Slippery Rock film students have had the opportunity to view and respond to in this blog, responding to details in assigned reviews of Do the Right Thing from Desson Howe, Washington Post Staff Writer in an article written on June 30, 1989; Jim Emerson, Editor Microsoft Cinemania in an article written in 1989, and Roger Ebert, American Film Critic, journalist and screenwriter for the Chicago Sun-Times in an article written on June 30, 1989.
I do not agree with Desson Howe’s comment, “Spike Lee is about to drag you into a sizzling kitchen called “Do the Right Thing.” But in this case, you’re going to love the heat” (Howe.) I did not love the heat. This film was very disturbing to me as a film student and as an individual. The racial flare-ups and manner in which the Koreans and Italians were treated by the members of the Black New York City neighborhood was almost unbearable to watch. So no, this blogger did not enjoy, and most definitely did not love the heat in this film.
Jim Emerson said, “I think Do the Right Thing is a masterpiece—certainly one of the most invigorating and moving experiences I’ve ever had at the movies (Emerson.)" I cannot say that I agree with Emerson either. I was the opposite of invigorated. I was worn out, exhausted, drained and overcome by the treatment of the human beings in this film. This film portrayed what is wrong in this world when people treat other people based on their skin color, their nationality instead of their work ethic, and trying to make a better live for themselves and more importantly their families as portrayed by Sal, the proud Italian-American and his two sons, and Sonny the Korean grocer and his wife and young son. I thought this is what America is based on, immigrants that are hard workers and entrepreneurs. So no, this blogger did not view this film as invigorating and it was one of the worst feeling film experiences I have ever had.
After reading Roger Ebert’s review of Do the Right Thing, I had more prospective on this film than I previously had. Ebert wrote, “Some of them [thousands of people have seen it at preview screenings] are bothered by it; they think it will cause trouble. Others feel the message is confused (Ebert.)" “All of those reactions, I think, simple are different ways of avoiding the central fact of the film, which is that it comes closer to reflecting the current state of race relations in America than any other movie of our times (Ebert.)" I agree with Ebert when he says the film is confusing. I was confused viewing it. If this film does suggest the race relations of 1989, I wouldn’t know, this was well before my time here on earth and I am glad I did not live in this time. This film ended in violence and violence is never the solution to anything. I was very disappointed with Mother Sister. I expected her to be the one who stood up and prevented the tensions from building up and turning so violent. She portrayed herself as someone that she was not. She watched everything that went on and acted as though she was a person that deserved respect, why because of her age, it certainly had nothing to do with her behavior or actions or her abilities as a matriarch. Her white picket fence was her window stoop. I was very uplifted and did enjoy Da Mayor. He was the patriarch whom had sound wisdom, experience, but the young people treated him as though he was worthless. I was therefore very confused at times viewing this film. I do not have a foundation on which to understand this film because I have been taught to except people for whom they are and treat them as you would want to be treated; this thought process has nothing to do with a person’s race. So if this film was about bigotry, prejudice, narrow-mindedness than I can appreciate and support Spike Lee’s message of do the right thing, knowing the right thing was not what occurred in this film.
As a film, Do the Right Thing is a study in how cinematography can effectively add weight to and inform the content of the plot and character development and the message of the film. The cinematographer’s use of sensual details, such as the burning, scorching, sizzling, sticky, and suffocating heat of a summer day, with the use of color is visually stunning. Because the weather plays significant weight to inform content in this film from the beginning to the end, the oppressive summer heat which adds fuel to and strengthens and encourages the racial conflicts to the surface, the cinematographer's use of light and color increases the films visual content and power. The camera and frame composition from the films first frame containing the vigorous and lively credit sequence in which actress Rosie Perez dances intensely and shockingly to Public Enemy's sound tract of "Fight the Power," a background scenery of camera lighting in vivid blues, purples and reds, to the film’s final camera shots, which explode in bright colors. The color approach used by the cinematographer appeared to be digital, with the use of color filters or the use of transparent thermoplastic plastic color wrap over the lens.
The editing montage compresses time by showing a series of brief shots, sometimes accompanied by shots of maps, newspapers, or calendars and is definitely a transitional sequence of rapidly edited images showing the lapse of time and passing of events during this one day story line.
The one film shot I will reference to for the mise-en-scene and camera techniques is the shot filmed of Mother Sister as she sits on her window sill framed by the window and watches the activities taking place in this New York City neighborhood street right outside her window. The camera framing and use of the window as a visual metaphor for framing Mother Sister in a picture frame mise-en-scene as inclusion or exclusion, including her, yet separating her from the activities and the use of cinematic frame with Mother Sister in the center of the camera frame was visually informing to the audience. The camera distance and shot scale distance from the camera to Mother Sister in the medium shots and point of view shots often showing interaction or conversation with the people on the New York city street was magnificently filmed and made the viewer feel included in on this conversation, but made this viewer realize that Mother Sister was an observer and perhaps a nosey neighbor and not someone who would offer assistance.
As a film student I have learned that films are history of events that have occurred or are people’s opinions of events that have taken place and are stories that have a message. It has been great to have been taught by Dr. Permenter, the importance of the cineliteracy of films, videos and television. I will no longer view any of these works without a critical eye. I will analyze these works with the knowledge I have learned in this film analysis class and have an educated appreciation of why screen writers, directors and cinematographers make the choices and decisions they make. As for Do the Right Thing, it is not a film I would have ever watched and after viewing this and learning more of the meaning behind the film, I will recommend it, so that other people may walk away with a better tolerance and understanding of the true meaning of living in an inclusive society, by doing the right thing.
Ebert, Roger. “Do the Right Thing.” 5 July 2013. Web.
Emerson, Jim. “Do the Right Thing.” 5 July 2013. Web. http://cinepad.com/reviews/doright.htm
Howe, Desson. “Do the Right Thing.” 5 July 2013. Web.
No comments:
Post a Comment