Do The Right Thing Yo

While watching the motion picture Do The Right Thing by Spike Lee, I enjoyed a number of scenes throughout the movie, while disliking others. I think that Spike Lee's directing style is very...ADD in the way that it will sporadically cut for no apparent reason and doesn't linger on one scene for too long, much like one of my all time favorite directors, Michael Bay (internet sarcasm). That being said, I found one scene to stand out over most of the others, both in content and cinematography, as it was both unsettling and ridiculous, pushing onto the viewers and array of emotions that left me feeling uncomfortable, not knowing if I found it funny or horrible. The scene I speak of was the montage in a seemingly random place in the film where it cuts to 5 people all of different races, who proceed to spout off just about every known racial slur, and then some unknown, directed at a particular opposite race. I found the clip of it on youtube so you readers don't have to try and remember it if you forgot, though I'm sure for a lot of you you still remember it unless you were asleep.




This scene overall stood out for me because the speed and angle that the camera comes in on to the people is unsettling to the viewer and leaves them feeling uncomfortable and as if the comments are being directed to them, but the comments that come out of their mouths are so ridiculous that you can't really take them seriously, though maybe they were highly offensive back in 1989 and us kids are just too desensitized by the media to feel any sort of emotion other than finding them funny, damn video games. Anyway for me this was the most powerful scene in the film, yes, even more so than Mookie throwing the trash can through the window, though that is up there on my list. Now I ask of you, what do you think the most powerful scene in the movie was?

Battle Of Algiers

I read the New York Movie Review article concerning the Battle Of Algiers written by Pete Rainer. Rainer overall enjoyed the film immensely, as I did as well, but doesn't really fuel that opinion too much into his review of the film. He more talks about the technical aspects of the film and what an accomplishment it is than just talking about whether he liked it or disliked it. He talks about the parallel between the events that happen in the movie, such as the cafe bombings and the hit and run assassinations of French policemen, and how ironic and strange it is that those events happened in the real conflict, many times perpetrated by the very same people that star in the movie. It is very interesting to note that the film wasn't made many years after the fact, but a mere 3-5 years later and shot in the same areas that the actual events took place in.

Rainer also notes the two opposing sides of the movie; The Algerians and the French. The Algerians are represented by one of their leaders, Ali LaPointe, who is brought up from being a lowly peasant to one of the main ringleaders or the FLN organization. At his opposite is the seemingly ruthless yet collected Colonel Mathieau. Both ends of the spectrum are treated equally and Pontecorvo isn't biased towards either side, telling each as it is, as is exemplified in this quote by Rainer.

What reveals Pontecorvo as an artist, and not simply a propagandist of genius, is the sorrow he tries to stifle but that comes flooding through anyway—the sense that all sides in this conflict have lost their souls, and that all men are carrion.

With this, Pontecorvo shows the extent to which the conflict has played out and that neither side is a sinner or a saint over the other, but both have seemed to have lost their souls and forgotten what they are really fighting for.

I also agree with Rainer's point that he makes by saying that

The strongest scene in the movie comes when three FLN women drop their veils and assume a Western look in order to infiltrate the European Quarter and plant explosives in two cafés and an Air France ticket office. We see tired businessmen at a bar, passengers waiting to board buses, teenagers dancing, and, most pointedly, a baby licking an ice cream cone—all soon to be blown to bits

This to me was also the strongest scene of the movie, as it shows both sides of a terrible conflict; The French citizens about to die, whom the viewer feels great sympathy for, but also the Algerian women who have to carry out this terrible act in hopes of winning their freedom.

I think Rainer did a terrific job in his review and touched on most of the key points/ moral dilemmas that the viewer was most likely feeling at the time. I also have to say the this, behind Kiss Me Deadly, was the second best film we have viewed in class so far, as it was entertaining in the intelligent sense in that it actually made you think, a trait not seen too often in most movies nowadays.