Do The Right Thing

Spike Lee's Do the Right Thing captures the tension between different races in a predominantly African American Brooklyn neighborhood.  At the height of hip-hop culture, teenagers of the neighborhood blast their music through the streets.  The local pizzeria owner Sal and his two sons make it clear that they are not very tolerant of their African American customers.  Sal denies the request for putting up pictures of black people even though they keep his business going.  The tension is not only with the Italian family, but also with an Asian couple at a local market, a latino group, and a white man driving through the street.  One scene that I thought was powerful is when some characters each get a turn to yell at the camera every derogatory and racial slur they can name towards a group of people.  In a matter of seconds, the ending of the movie takes a huge sharp turn where absolute chaos breaks loose.  The movie suddenly becomes violent and shows what racism and intolerance can lead to.