In a nutshell: I finally understand where Spike Lee's reputation as a good director comes from 
Quick synopsis: A day in the life of a pizza delivery-man spirals out of control as long-standing racial tension in Brooklyn reaches a boiling point.
Content: The only Spike Lee movie I had ever seen before checking out Do The Right Thing was Inside Man. Although Inside Man is a good film, it is not immediately recognizable as Spike Lee work. It has racial elements but not nearly as much as the movies on which he made his name. So I though it was high time to find out what a trademark "Spike Lee joint" is all about.
Do The Right Thing kinda blew me away. It's ALL about racial tension. It takes place in a neighborhood in Brooklyn where the African Americans, Italians, white guys, Latinos and Koreans are all living in extremely close proximity to each other. The entire story takes place in just over 24 hours, but we get a good sense of history. Not of any specific character, but of what the neighborhood is like. Many races have an uneasy truce with each other. They act as friendly as possible while resenting others when amongst their own. And the day we watch is the day when tensions, agitated by extreme heat and humidity, finally reach a boiling point.
Something happens as a result. I won't get into details, but I found myself pondering why it happened. Whose fault was it? And although many individuals made decisions that helped us reach that point, I have a hard time blaming anyone in particular. I almost feel like it needed to happen. Either that or everyone was at fault.
The characters are fantastic and so is the cast. Spike Lee himself plays Mookie, who can probably be considered the protagonist. He is a very passive character and most of what happens, happens around him as he observes. But in an ironic twist, he is the straw that breaks the camel's back before all hell breaks loose. He takes his first real stand of the entire movie, and I'm 99% sure that the title refers to that moment, even though we, the audience, are left to ponder whether or not it actually was the "right thing" to do. Relatively deep stuff we are talking here...
The rest of the cast features many familiar faces including John Turturro, Danny Aiello, the valet guy from Ferris Bueller, Rosie Perez and her awful awful voice, Samuel L. Jackson, the GREAT Ossie Davis, a very young Martin Lawrence and one of the cops from the Usual Suspects. The characters have fantastic names like Da Mayor, Mother Sister, Buggin Out, Radio Raheem, Sweet Dick Willie and Mister Senor Love Daddy.
At the film's very core are the conflicting philosophies of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X regarding the use of violence. Some characters like Mister Senor Love Daddy and Da Mayor fall squarely within the MLK camp, while others drift the other way. And tying the sides together is Smiley, the mentally challenged man who walks around all day with pictures of the two civil rights activists shaking hands.
I have successfully made Do The Right Thing feel rather overbearing and preachy, but the magic of the film is that it never comes close to that dreaded territory inhabited by films like Crash. You could watch the entire thing without thinking and be entertained thanks to the fantastically colorful characters and memorable moments. But when you reflect on what you saw, all of these discussion points emerge and perhaps surprisingly, Spike does not offer too many answers, but leaves things open for debate.
Do The Right Thing is an excellent film and I daresay it is Spike Lee's best work without even seeing the rest of his movies. I just can't imagine anything being better than this.
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