Do The Right Thing
Spike Lee’s controversial and timely movie about racial equality and tensions of 1989 that means just as much now in our political and social turmoil.
Film making 20/25
Cinematography 20/25
Audio 20/25
Bonus Features 20/25
Total 80/100
Do The Right Thing takes place one hot sultry day in the Bedford-Stuyevesant neighborhood of Brooklyn following residents of the neighborhood as they deal with the heat and each other. Spike Lee brings the issue of race right in the open to not judge but just to put the issue out for all to see and work with.
Spike Lee does have his own view but he also sees the world as it is from his side of the street and shows the rest of us not only where he came from but how he feels. Spike Lee grew up in Brooklyn and knows first hand the racial tensions that are portrayed in the film but he may go a bit too far at times.
I may not like his style but he does put things out for all to see and debate which seems to be his intent instead of trying to say what is right. The main character of the story is Mookie played by Spike Lee but he does not really play a major role, each character in the film has their own voice and he does let us hear it.
Spike shows throughout the film different attitudes toward immigrants, race and politics not from one side but from several with equal respect. Spike Lee shows that even blacks can be prejudiced and bring some issues up that really are not the correct ones.
In one such scene Sal, played by Danny Aiello, is a business owner who has spent his life in the neighborhood and tells his son that he won’t move out when the son asks why he won’t move to a better neighborhood. Buggin’ Out, played by Giancarlo Esposito, tries to protest and rally people behind him because Sal does not have any African American pictures on his wall, only Italian Americans.
Throughout the day tensions rise with the temperature and Buggin’ Out’s racial tirade against Sal explodes in the streets. The film does a good job of showing racism not as a one sided thing and shows the many faces and feelings behind racism.
Do The Right Thing is a pretty good film and shows that racism is not just something we have overcome because we have elected an African American as President. We may have gotten better and sometimes even just sent the outright racism into the hiding but due to some actions such as Spike Lee’s film we have brought racism out of the closet and faced it.
Do The Right Thing on Blu-ray is a great transfer and the film was really well done with a special attention to color and contrast to try and show the heat of the city streets. The films high definition is great and looks really good with a real feel for the heat due to not only the shimmering heat in some scenes but the color differences.
Very bright and vibrant colors really bring out the heat by making it seem like it is very bright out and gives the impression of a hot sunny day. The audio is also very good with a good transfer to Blu-ray that sounds great with English DTS-HD Master Audio 5.1 and Spanish and French DTS 5.1 Surround Sound and subtitles in English, French and Spanish.
The Blu-ray edition also has a lot of bonus content with Do The Right Thing: 20 Years Later, Deleted and Extended Scenes, new audio commentary by Spike Lee, feature commentary by Spike Lee and others and much more. There is a lot of bonus content that really gets into the film and its impact on racism and politics then and now from not only people involved with the film and others.
The Blu-ray has a documentary and plenty of features with some new but most from the original release of the film back in 1989. Do The Right Thing is a pretty good film and well worth viewing at least once for its racial and political message.