20 years later the question is still asked did Mookie do the right thing? It is one of the most iconic images in 80s cinema when Mookie, played by Spike Lee throws a trash can through the window of Sal's pizza in the aftermath of another police murder of a young black man in a Bronx neighbourhood. I've seen "Do the Right Thing" many times and each time I see Mookie throw that garbage can, I see a different motive behind it. Was Mookie deflecting the violence from Sal and his sons towards his pizzeria? Was This a form of catharsis for the community? Or was this Justice done towards a racist who got what he deserved?
The reason "Do The Right Thing" remains so powerful is Spike Lee never answers any of these questions for us, what he's doing is telling us like it is, living in a Bronx neighbourhood in the late 80s. The film isn't just a reminder of racism in America, it's also perhaps the most visceral that came out in the 80s. Spike Lee is an intellect, and he's able to express his ideas like a professional filmmaker. This was the fourth film Lee made, but you can sense this was the one where he laid it all out on the table, he had something to say, and he made sure we stood up and listened.
The film begins with an aggressive dance done during the credits. It's performed by Rosie Perez who plays the girlfriend of Mookie in the film. The dance is done to the song "Fight the Power" by Public Enemy, which will become a sort of an anthem throughout the film. The dance is meant to get our attention, it's an angry, pull no punches routine that is in our face.
The next scene we see a close up of an alarm clock that rings, and the voice of the local D.J. (Samuel L. Jackson) tells us to "Wake up". It's Lee's intention to wake us out of our apathy, only this way can some change happen.
The film takes place on one of those hot New York summer days, and throughout the day tensions are rising within the melting pot. The main problem happens in Sal's pizza. Sal (Danny Aiello) is an Italian American who runs his business with his two sons Vito (Richard Edson) and Pino (John Turturro). Sal is proud of his pizza place as he later reveals that he's happy that kids from the neighbourhood have grown up with his pizza. His son Pino however is unhappy, he is a flatout racist who hates the neighbourhood and the people who come in to buy it. Things get heated when one of the locals named Buggin Out (Ginacarlo Esposito) complains that Sal only has white Italian Americans hung on his wall. Buggin Out is upset that Sal doesn't represent any African Americans on his wall after all that is the majority who buy his pizza. Buggin Out causes a ruckus and soon Sal kicks him out, but things aren't over.
Throughout the day we see more and more tensions rise some of it concentrated on the Korean family across the street from Sal's who own a convenient store, some of it focuses on an upper class white man who has the nerve to move into a black neighbourhood. What Spike Lee does here and what he isn't given enough credit for is showing everyone has a prejudice. Lee is often criticised for not being critical of African Americans, and those critics are people who don't pay attention to his films. If anything African Americans are given the harshest treatment in this film, some of them are scene as lazy slobs who sit on a street corner complaining about the Koreans who own their own business, using the excuse that they are black to argue why they don't own their own. Even Lee's own character Mookie is seen in a bad light, he neglects his girlfriend and his son, and has his own prejudice against Sal when he sees him with his sister.
The central characters here are Sal and Mookie, and it is their relationship I think that is the key with this film. Sal is at times a good man, and you sense that he likes the people in his neighbourhood, but underneath is a hatred that is eluded to in the beginning when he threatens Buggin Out with a bat, later this hatred is unleashed.
So did Mookie do the right thing. You ask different people, chances are you'll get different answers, I'm still trying to figure out his motive which might put me behind everyone else. But it probably all comes down to the heat of the moment, things that go through your mind at that instant, and then suddenly there's only one thing left to do.
"Do The Right Thing" is an intelligent movie, and probably the most intelligent movie about racism ever put on screen, I remember showing the film to a group of friends for the first time, and afterwards having a real conversations about the issues the film raised. That's not saying everyone in the room liked the film, but it definitely had an impact. What Lee set out to do with this film I think is take us out of our apathy and pay attention, and that's what he's been able to do with the best of his films. Spike Lee remains controversial, and whether you like everything he says or not, he can always have credit for having brains behind what he is saying. I'm not sure he will ever surpass what he did with "Do the Right Thing", it was a film for the moment, and until we get to the rooted issue about racism, it will continue to be a film for the moment.
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