Spike Lee’s hit 1989 film Do The Right Thing engrossed audiences and critics alike, including award-winning film commentator Roger Ebert, who praised the movie for its bold and refreshing depiction of race in America. Ebert enjoyed the picture so much, in fact, that he labeled the movie as one of the few movies that “penetrate your soul.”
Now, nearly 40 years since its release, the film’s message seems more pertinent than ever. Indeed, few dramedies can claim to have as powerful of a reach as the controversial classic, whose critics were recently called out by Lee for insisting the film would incite race riots (something that Ebert’s 2001 review rightfully calls out).
Whether you’re Spike Lee’s greatest fan or are only now learning about his 1989 masterpiece, Roger Ebert’s review is the definitive ᴀssessment of Do The Right Thing, encapsulating in just under seven minutes how and why the film continues to pertain to American life even 36 years later.
Roger Ebert Described Spike Lee’s Do The Right Thing As A Movie That Penetrates His Soul
To Ebert, The Film Accomplished The Near Impossible
Ebert’s use of the phrase “penetrate your soul” isn’t simple conjecture or overstatement. In his 2001 review, the critic describes leaving a screening of Do The Right Thing at the Cannes Film Festival in tears, praising Spike Lee’s accomplishment of the near-impossible, which, in his words, was “[making] a movie about race in America that empathized with all the participants.”
Despite the controversy that swirled around its release in the late ’80s, the film’s resolve to humanize all its Brooklynite subjects captured a rare spark of humanity that captivated America’s most respected critic to date.
Moreover, Ebert doesn’t use the expression lightly, clarifying that only a few pictures have come close to rivaling his first viewing of Do The Right Thing. Despite the controversy that swirled around its release in the late ’80s, the film’s resolve to humanize all its Brooklynite subjects captured a rare spark of humanity that captivated America’s most respected critic to date.
How Do The Right Thing Holds Up 36 Years Later
The Film Is As Good Today As It Was In 1989
Even 36 years later, Do The Right Thing continues to stand as a bright and informative commentary on the role of race in a flawed society, and there’s perhaps no greater voice to summarize its courageous view than Roger Ebert himself, whose fascination with the film transcended his role of critic and instead emerged from a vivid sense of humanity.
Moreover, Ebert’s praise highlights the role of cinema in commenting on and elevating the parameters of a society so that change might transform from the abstract to the concrete. Knowing Ebert, such praise did not always come lightly throughout his career, and that certainty only speaks further to the quality of Spike Lee’s career-defining master stroke, Do The Right Thing.
