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First keep the peace within yourself, then you can also bring peace to others.

............ Thomas Kempis

Diplomacy-- the art of saying "Nice doggie" until you can find a stick.

............ Wynn Catlin

No real social change has ever been brought about without a revolution....Revolution is but thought carried into action.

............ Emma Goldman (from Anarchism, 1917)

If a man hasn't discovered something that he will die for, he isn't fit to live.

............ Martin Luther King, Jr.

[America is] a rebellious nation. Our whole history is treason; our blood was attained before we were born; our creeds were infidelity to the mother church; our constitution treason to our fatherland.

............ Theodore Parker

Agitation is the marshalling of the conscience of a nation to mold its laws.

............ Robert Peel

He who takes a stand is often wrong, but he who fails to take a stand is always wrong.

............ Anonymous

In our anger and emotion, our fellow Americans must treat each other with respect. Those who feel like they can intimidate our fellow citizens to take out their anger don't represent the best of America. They represent the worst of humankind. And they should be ashamed of that kind of behavior.

............ President George W. Bush (Sept 17th 2001 - Address at a Washington, D.C. mosque)

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Summer isn't officially over for several more weeks yet, but for most of us in the U.S., summer pretty much ends with the Labor Day weekend. The kids are headed back to school, vacations are off until next year, and the world keeps on turning. ('Proud Mary keep on... oops, the rhyme doesn't quite work with 'turning', it would have to be 'toinin' or somesuch. Ah, never mind).

Last year at this time, I decided to bridge the remaining 3 or 4 weeks pre-Buffy-season-premiere with a kind of thematically related cluster of flicks. Since the major topic of interest at the start of S6 was Buffy's death (and imminent 'rebirth'), I figured 'Death is a Gift??' might be a suitable link. So, I started out with Gus Van Sant's To Die For, followed a week later by Michael Tolkin's The Rapture, and then one week before the premiere, Jim Jarmusch's B&W excursion into the spiritual 'end of the line', Dead Man.

In the midst of all of this came (of course), 9-11, and Americans finally discovered the horror of being attacked by a terrorist group not in some remote foreign embassy or military base, but within our very own continental and non-military U.S. As I write this, virtually every currently available media format-- TV, newspapers, magazines, e-media, whathaveyou, is gearing up (and somewhat cautiously at times) to commemorate the anniversary of this unquestionable tragedy.

But have we learned anything during the last year? I have to wonder. Like most people, I was shocked and angry, but at the same time there was this whiny, sarcastic voice in the back of my head that kept asking annoying questions, such as 1) Just exactly what are we going to do about this? 2) Will whatever we do be genuinely useful in preventing this sort of thing from happening again? and 3) Why are you asking when you already pretty much know the answer?

A year later, I'm neither pleased nor proud to see that the whiny voice was pretty much right on. We did manage to (mostly) get rid of the Taliban, which is certainly a big check mark in the plus column, but other than that what has been accomplished? We've dropped lots of bombs, killed quite a number of people, destroyed a lot of property, spent a great deal of money doing it, and haven't even caught the primary perpetrator of the scheme. There is also the other big question that keeps nagging at me, which is why didn't we do something earlier? I'm afraid of what I think the answer is there, too, so I'm not going to go that way, at least not tonight.

Now, I understand the need to do something, anything. It's human nature-- someone attacks you, you can only turn the other cheek for so long, because you begin to realize that your enemy doesn't perceive the compassion or understanding in you that turning the cheek represents, he only perceives that you are 'weak', and that the weak must be destroyed, lest it 'poison' the rest of his 'society'.

It's a balancing act, walking the fence between minding your own business and willfully interfering in the affairs of other people/societies/countries. Sometimes you need to hold back and resist the urge to get involved; at other times action is clearly called for.

Which brings us to this week's Classic Movie, Do the Right Thing, written, produced and directed by one of the most creative minds out there in contemporary cinema, Spike Lee. Released over 11 years ago, this movie is still able to stir emotions-- sometimes to anger-- because like the greater world that it is a reflection of, very little seems to have changed over that time.

The story takes place during an extremely hot day in the Bedford-Stuyevesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, NY. In the vast majority of movies that are set in an urban 'landscape', there would be lots of shadowy alleyways, tall buildings, and a general feeling of dread or decay emphasized by the cinematography, typically all muted greys and browns, or pervasive rainfall or fog. Lee breaks away from this cliche by lighting everything in his microcosmic cityscape very brightly and pushing the color level of the film stock as high as he can get it. The end effect is a curious mixture of the real and the surreal, and at a number of times Do the Right Thing seems more like the filming of a stage play than a conventional movie. Whatever the photographic techniques employed, it is clear that this neighborhood, poor and run down though it may be, is nonetheless a functioning community where people live and hang out among one another.

Lee fills his community with quite a large number of characters, and it can take a while until we become familiar with them, but nearly all play a part in the gradually unfolding events of the day. After the high-energy opening credit sequence with Rosie Perez doing an eminently dynamic and funky presentation of Public Enemy's tune 'Fight the Power', the scene cuts abruptly to 'Mister Senor Love Daddy' (Sam Jackson), the DJ for FM 108, 'WE-LOVE' radio, who/which is a recurring link throughout the film, as he/it provides commentary and musical accompaniment to the events of the day from the window of the broadcast booth.

Next we meet 'Da Mayor' (Ossie Davis), a comradely drunk who along with 'Mother Sister'(Ruby Dee) seem to represent the elderly portion of the community. Then we meet one of the other pivotal characters, Mookie, played by Lee. He seems to be living with his sister, Jade (Spike Lee's real sister, Joie Lee), who's tired of having him crash in her apartment, and keeps urging him to get a real job and stop depending on her. There's 'Smiley' (Roger Guenveur Smith), a somewhat retarded man who apparently makes his living by selling pictures of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X, and Mookie's girlfriend Tina (Rosie Perez), who, like Mookie's sister, wants him to take on more responsibility, although mostly for their baby boy.

We also have 'Buggin Out' (Giancarlo Esposito), a vocal militant with an obsession for keeping his expensive sneakers immaculately clean; 'Radio Raheem' (Bill Nunn), whose monsterously loud boom box seem to define his entire personality, and then there are these three old guys on the corner who, in a manner somewhat counterpoint/analogous to Senor Love Daddy, comment on community developments, but at much less sound-bitey length.

The neighborhood itself is primarily African-American, but two of the businesses that are still operating there are not. There is a Korean grocery store that has apparently opened up just recently, but the oldest shop is one named 'Sal's Famous Pizzeria', and the owner, Sal (Danny Aiello), has been at this same location since a time when the neighborhood was primarily Italian-American. Sal runs the business with the help of his two sons, Pino (John Turturro) and Vito (Richard Edson), and also employs Mookie, who delivers pizzas. (Mookie also acts as a messenger of sorts with in the community, which his delivery duties lend themselves to). Mookie does what he needs to do at his job, but nothing more-- his heart isn't in it because he knows there's no real future for him in delivering pizzas.

Sal could have left the decaying neighborhood years ago, but he stays out of a genuine sense of pride that his business contributes positively to the community. He boasts that he knows everyone personally, young to old, and that "these people have grown up on my pizza". Sal is a down-to-earth, no-nonsense kind of guy who basically prefers to get along with everyone and just tend to business. Pino, on the other hand, despises what his father has created. Filled with hatred for the business, his brother, and the neighborhood, he sets out to make his own unhappiness into everyone else's, especially for Mookie, who largely sloughs off the insults directed at him.

Pino is a vocal racist who restricts his vitriol in public, but doesn't hesitate to spill it to anyone who isn't in a position to do him any real harm. Vito is more easy-going and open-minded, and considers himself to be 'one of the brothers', although Pito assures him that this is a serious failing/weakness on his part.

Lee is very careful not to take the obvious course in presenting his characters' personalities-- while early on some of the people seem one-dimensional, as the story progresses we see that they are far more complicated, regardless of skin color or ethnic background. One nicely-scripted encounter has a white man, wheeling a bicycle, bump into Buggin' Out. Buggin' freaks less because of the clearly accidental brush-up, but because one of his sneakers has gotten soiled as a result. He follows the man down the street, accosting him. A small crowd gathers and Buggin', trying to turn the oft-used epithet 'Why don't you go back where you came from originally' around and direct it at the white cyclist, gets the sarcastic rejoinder that "I'm originally from Brooklyn".

Not all of the characters are likeable, nor are they intended to be. Lee makes it very plain that racism isn't just some thing that the white Pino feels about blacks. Around the mid-point of the film, Lee sets up a series of shots where several different characters face the camera and release a stream of racial/ethnic epithets directed at whatever group they happen to hate the most. The steadily increasing hot weather of the day has become an apt metaphor for the emotional heat building within, and just how little of a spark would be required to 'start a fire'.

That spark occurs when Buggin' Out, who is annoyed to distraction that Sal has only pictures of famous Italians hung on the walls of his pizzeria. He thinks that since most of Sal's customers are black, that there should also be some pictures of famous African-Americans there too.

As might be expected, Sal prefers Frank Sinatra to Public Enemy and invites Buggin' Out to bug the hell out of his shop after Buggin' gets rowdy about the idea. To exact revenge, and enact some of what he sees as 'social justice', Buggin attempts to organize a boycott of Sal's. Unfortunately, while most of the community likes Buggin', they also like Sal and his pizza, and so he doesn't get anywhere. Finally, he approaches Radio Raheem, who earlier has ventured into Sal's with his boom-box blasting, and had Sal refuse to serve him until he turned it off. The two of them go on to announce their boycott at closing time, where, again, the boom box becomes the issue and the pent-up rage finally overflows into violence.

Incredibly, Do the Right Thing was only Lee's third film. He chose to make this effort not only stylish and involving, but also had the courage to present the situation for the movie viewer 'as is', and not attempt to present a 'solution' for the complex (and possible unsolvable) problems that are illustrated. The film ends with two quotations, one from Martin Luther King, and the other from Malcolm X, which offer seemingly contradictory attitudes towards the role of utilizing violence to solve problems. Some viewers might see this as a cop-out on Lee's part, but then isn't the very title of the film the answer all along?

And as soon as I figure out what the 'Right Thing' to do is, I'll be sure to let you know.

E. Pluribus Cinema, Unum,

OnM

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Technically the choice is up to you:

Do the Right Thing is available on DVD, the review copy was on laserdisc. The film was released in 1989 and running time is 2 hours even. Primary producing and screenwriting credits go to the director, Spike Lee. Co-producers were Jon Kilik and Monty Ross. Cinematography was by Ernest R. Dickerson with film editing by Barry Alexander Brown. Production design was by Wynn Thomas, with set decoration by Steve Rosse and costume design by Ruth E. Original music was by Chuck D., Flavor Flav, Bill Lee and Mervyn Warren. The original theatrical soundtrack mix was Dolby SR.

Cast overview:

Danny Aiello .... Sal
Ossie Davis .... Da Mayor
Ruby Dee .... Mother Sister
Richard Edson .... Vito
Giancarlo Esposito .... Buggin' Out
Spike Lee .... Mookie
Bill Nunn .... Radio Raheem
John Turturro .... Pino
Paul Benjamin .... ML
Frankie Faison .... Coconut Sid
Robin Harris .... Sweet Dick Willie
Joie Lee .... Jade
Miguel Sandoval .... Officer Ponte
Rick Aiello .... Officer Long
John Savage .... Clifton

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The Question of the Week:

Is the only effective way to unite normally acrimonious social or ethnic communities to provide them with a common enemy to fight? Is it even possible to do this anymore, with the growing awareness in many cultures that the real enemy is usually ourselves?

Post 'em if you've got 'em, and stay tuned for next week, when we will definitely have some fresh new ambiguity to ponder.

In the meantime, take care, and don't jive like my other!

;-)

******* Classic Movie of the Week - September 7th 2002 - Do the Right Thing