GEMS ---> DO THE RIGHT THING

No single movie changes our lives.

We usually say that they changed us because we wanted them to change us. We want them
to give us a fresh start to our lives.They usually don't.May be they do. I am not sure.

In that confused sense, I can say that "Do The Right Thing" changed my life. I lived in
bed-stuy because of impact it had on me.

There are certain moments in life which are more powerful in retrospect/

Come to think of it,the discovery I made during my stay in bed-stuy is more powerful

now than before.

Bed-Stuy. Afternoon.

I watched the movie for the nth time, and then started watching 'behind the scenes' disk

of the movie. To my surprise, I found out that the movie was shot right on my street, and

the house I was living in, was the place where crucial scenes were shot, before it was built.

And, when I opened my window,  I was able to see the mike Tyson portrait they showed

predominantly in the movie.The open place under the portrait was the place where Sal's
famous pizzeria set was built.

Surprised, I was. But, not overwhelmed. The poverty got me, the noise got me, and people

buying single eggs got me. I wasn't able to enjoy that moment. Spike lee didn't glamorize

the poverty, but I loved the movie soo much that I romanticized the poverty. Let me tell

you this -- Poverty Sucks. Poverty around you sucks.

Watching spike lee movies was a revelation of sorts. They made me ask many questions.

1. Where did I develop my taste for movies?

2. Why I feel comfortable with white people as actors?

3. What is beauty?

All the programs the society inadvertently wrote  for me to follow, just vanished.

I gotta tell you that it was a very liberating feeling. Because, spike lee smacks you

in the head. He smacks hard,and you might find some wounds in your head or some

wounds getting healed after 'The End'.

The subtle and not so subtle feeling I observed in Spike lee's movies was ANGER

..the controlled one.His words are like bullets, his shots are like canons, he is the

'Genghis Khan' fighting against the tough enemy called racism. Well, some people

say that he too fell in to the trap of racism. Who said, "when

you stare at abyss too long, it will stare you back" ?

Spike lee's influence on film making is phenomenal. Not only in America, but also else

where. His first movie, "She's gotta have it", was remade many times by different people.

Some people may want to disparage spike lee's influence on American psyche, but that

is because he smacked them...instead of the  usual MLK way. He is the Malcolm X

of the American film making. I even go as far as to say that Obama's victory has

something to do with spike lee's work many years back. Why? Because, he woke up
people, he rabble roused, he used the medium in the most entertaining way to talk
about issues,and HE CHANGED THE SYSTEM..in such a way, that people started

accepting anyone who was less rebellious than him.Every society needs a person
like spike lee.He is the change the history books forget to mention.

I know each and every shot in this movie..not because I observed it technically -- I
watched the movie many many times.( I am not capable of watching a movie technically

..as it bores me). I watched it soo many times that I finally got bored of it. No surprises

for me in "Do the right thing".

I don't want to write anymore shit. I can go on an on..about how great Danny Aiello was
in this movie and all that. So,

Let me just say this, "Thank you, spike lee. Please don't die.".

Do The right Thing (1989) - Trailer