I went to see a free showing of this film the other night, in light of recent events. Where a younger version of myself would have maybe shrugged and thought 'Well, this is an extreme depiction of reality', I now realize that it is not.
Do the Right Thing is a beautiful mix of comedy, great narration (what movie introduces an entire block of characters and makes you care about each of them?), intense dialogue and a very dark, grueling reality we live in, today. Not just in the United States, but everywhere in the world.
Unfortunately it cannot be fully called a historical drama yet. But hopefully, some day in the future we can watch this, have a chuckle and weep tears of sadness for the past in which racism, prejudice, bigotry and police brutality was commonplace. Until then: let's spread this movie out like a virus. It's been 30 years with hardly any change, the previous generations haven't been able to eradicate the evil that is racism. Let's do our best to make a difference.
Do the Right Thing is a beautiful mix of comedy, great narration (what movie introduces an entire block of characters and makes you care about each of them?), intense dialogue and a very dark, grueling reality we live in, today. Not just in the United States, but everywhere in the world.
Unfortunately it cannot be fully called a historical drama yet. But hopefully, some day in the future we can watch this, have a chuckle and weep tears of sadness for the past in which racism, prejudice, bigotry and police brutality was commonplace. Until then: let's spread this movie out like a virus. It's been 30 years with hardly any change, the previous generations haven't been able to eradicate the evil that is racism. Let's do our best to make a difference.