The bright and colorful side of racism. this is a dark film, but unlike Cint Eastwood films, the film uses strong and vibrant imagery; like Hitchcock. we see a real movie, about real people. the modern-day masterpeice "Crash" explored racism as well but that was a bit more explicit. this film explores the whole damn thing in that it shows us how it all starts. it is one hot day in Brooklyn, and things are about to get hotter. we know that much but how do we get there is what we are shown. that's what makes it so insightful. we all, or most of us, know this world. we see it in our schools, workplaces, homes. and maybe not racism but biases, bigotry, prejudices and so on. i see it in high school. no, msybe it is not as bad as it was in D.W. Griffith's silent masterpeice "The Birth of a Nation" but it is still pretty horrible. the characters are colorful and some warm. it is iin New York but were not introduced to the whole state; just this one tight section or blacks, a family of Italians and Koreans. it seems that not many problems have occured before, but it is still a heated town; even in the winter. but it's not like the writer/director is biased; in fact he's not at all. we see an equal side of the people as opposed to one side more thn the other. we can't side with anyone. i'm Italian but let me be the first to tell you i was not always siding with the Italians. so that's the way it's set up. some walked out in disbelief, others shocked, others prejudice broken, others begun new prejudices. yes i read some reviews that said that this film made "[them] hate black people". but it's all about descision making, which does not exactly include us doing the right thing.
There really is no main character. Spike Lee, the writer/director, plays Mookie. and this character is not presented as the righteous doing median between everyone who gives a sililoquy at the end about how racism is bad and we should all love each other (aka Marvin Gaye). that is what i thought the character would be but i was wrong. Sal (Danny Aiello) is the long time Italian pizzaria owner. he and his two sons(Richard Edson and John Turturro) run it together. Mookie is the delivery man for them. Sal is not just accepted by everyone but cared for. those people "grew up" on his pizza. Mookie has a hispanic girlfriend (Rosie Perez), Tina and a son with her. Like Fellini's vibrant masterpeice "Amarcord" of 1973, there are many interesting charcters. the drunk called 'Da Mayor', the white guy, the Koreans, the crazy ass guy trying to start trouble, the mentally disasbled guy, the wise old widow, the radio guy, the boom-box (Public Enemy) guy and so on. each character is vital to the ebb and flow of the film. nobody is unnecesary which is an interesting approach. Everyone has known everyone forever. things are about to change. it is an extremely hot day. but nevertheless, a normal one. pizzas are made and delivered, fire hydrants are opened, ice cream trucks come, racist comments are made, race is disscussed but this is all normal. but it's about to heat up a little more. something happens. someone gets angry. no they get pissed off. and then the conclusion. we know it's coming, it's all about presentaion though. people get tired and say things they may not mean; or maybe they do. but that's not the point. these things happen everyday- in one for or another.
This is an extremely well-done film. one of the best of the 80's which sometimes doesn't say much. in my opinion, and a lot of others, the 80's was the worst decade for film EVER. it is real and truthful. it is not predictable. again we know what's going to happen, but how. it starts at the beginning. the film "Crash" just jumped right into the racism. here, we rewind and see how it all goes down. then the ending is more understandable. if we just saw the ending, we would come out racist. The performances were powerful. Aiello was the best and got the Oscar nomination. i could feel for the character, not his race, but character. he was bold, and seemed righteous and good at descision making. Turturro's character was extremy racist and there are many disturbing scenes with him talking to his father. his father loves the people because he watched the kids grow up and has known everyone. but his sonis sick of it all. we see this and the other side of things which really evens everything out. the cinematography was beautiful and i loved the long takes and traking shots. it was sucha colorful film, and that's what i take from it. Lee was talented in about every aspect of the film. writer, director, actor all fabulous. Everyone was just so natural. it was belivable. the screenplay was nominated for the Academy Award and on WGA's 101 Best Screenplay list at #93. it made the film. it was a perfect screenply: funny, tradgic. dangerous, current and insightful. the actors did not over-intellectualize about their characters so nothing was contrived. that is one of the best things about the film. we learn how far our actions and what we say go and what people will do after years of prejudice. most of them did the things they did because they've always wanted to; and now's unfortunatly their chance.
