Tuesday, March 22, 2005
RACE
Today, I watched Spike Lee's
Do The Right Thing (1989).
I skipped it the first time around. I just wasn't into what I thought the movie would be about.
As usual, I was mistaken in my attitude. As we say around here, the worst thing of all is to have contempt prior to investigation.
I do not have to praise the film. It has won its round of universal praise. Even though many didn't like it, most have admired it.
Here is what I liked. I got to see Ossie Davis. Man, what a great actor and personality. Also, the ever under appreciated Danny Aiello. Samuel Jackson. The interlocutor. Levels and levels.
I loved the theatricalness of the film. It is slightly surreal which really helps things move along. Greek chorus, a 'blind man' who has the knowledge, the Jackson 'god' taking it all in.
The violence was realistic yet constrained. I really felt good about the end-resolution. Aiello and Lee patch it up and move on.
A 5 out of Netflix5.
It is great to come upon a film that I had ignored and discover a jewel.
