The only African American characters I liked were Mayor, the three old guys, and Mother Sister. Sal didn't do anything wrong, he hung up pictures of Italians in an Italian pizza joint. Radio was probably the rudest person in the film. I wasn't upset when he died.
Films are my only friends.
I felt bad for Sal, he was nice to his customers (mostly African American). Radio Raheem would not be tolerated in any establishment. Destroying his joint at the end only made me go against that community.
Sal just needed to have some patience; he should have handled some situations differently and that's it. Radio Raheem and Buggin' Out were just a bunch of despicable goons who caused all that trouble for nothing.
How low can a punk get?
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The fact that people are "picking sides" is a clear indication that they didn't understand the film. Their view of the film is so black and white that they judge the film based on the last 10 minutes of it, rather than acknowledge everything that occurred in the 2 hours before the ending.
Bottom line your not supposed to side with anyone, if you understood the film you would realise that almost each and every character at one point during the film commits an action that is anything but the right thing, including Sal, to say he didn't do anything wrong is pure ignorance.
"The stuff that dreams are made of."
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This is true. The crux of the film is that Mookie's action is neither right nor wrong. A life was lost for no real reason, someone's livelihood was destroyed, no one is to blame and everyone is to blame because the block's black community's insularity has become a point of silly, self-defeating pride and because Sal believes that a smart business tactic makes him integrationist and a progressive when it really only makes him an opportunist.
shareHow does the vandalism compare to the torching of the black store/social club/bar in "A Bronx Tale"(or whatever it was), are there parallels between Sal's and Calogero's use of the N word in a moment of "anger"(and would that suggest that they're subtle racists or they simply got caught up in the hype), and are these two genres of film equal in context? If so, for the Spike Lee haters...why not the same vitriol for Robert De Niro as the director in "A Bronx Tale"?
Extra:What do said people think about Robert De Niro's lovely Black wife?
i'm black and i am totally on Sal's side. He was a sweetheart for most of the film. The only people he was rude to were people that were rude to him. Mookie, who didn't respect him at all and acted like he owed him something. The buggin out guy with crazy hair who was rude as soon as he stepped into the restaurant demanding more cheese on that m*********er. And the boom box guy who apparently wasn't raised right because who walks into a restaurant of any kind blasting music? Even when sal told him to turn it down he wouldn't.
And i still dont understand why mookie threw the trash can through the glass. He can't say he was mad over Rayheem's death cuz he sure didn't look mad to me!
And hearing Sal's agony as they burn down his store of 20yrs was so painful.
"If we can only catch him, Death is dead!" -Cantebury Tales
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"Opportunist" seems a bit harsh and fails to consider that Sal's love and commitment for the physical business he had built with his own hands, sweat and blood. In fact he tells Mookie it is NOT about money! He had been there before it became a black neighborhood and chose to remain at the business he had created and continue to run it (unlike all the others who left). He told Pino that his Italian friends were not his friends and he should try to change his prejudiced views. Most of the neighborhood liked having the pizzeria there but took their anger out on it when the Police killed the aggressive Radio who was in the process of choking Sal to death over his boom box. None came to his defense. The crowd was misguided and it was Mookie who first broke the window despite knowing how the situation had transpired. Was Mookie angry at being told to let the stragglers in or perhaps still misinterpreting Sal's intentions towards his sister Jade? Whatever, his anger was misdirected and wrong but perhaps a product of his inability to understand Sal. Is that the message of the film? Mookie might have spoken up and made a difference but chose to do otherwise. I really had hoped he would show some character and do the right thing but a happy ending would not be honest or realistic I suppose. Sal had character and pride at having built something. Mookie did not have that experience and was unable to understand how that can shape a persons character and was lost as a result of such forces.
At the end we are shown quotes by Rev. King and Malcolm X. One speaks to non-violence while the other seems a bit less clear.
In the end it seems a tragedy. Does it imply we lost the way and become ever more cut off from any real understanding? I know there has been great progress in my lifetime with regards to racial opportunity but the media and some others love to promote racial animosity.
This is not about right or wrong, but it taught people to be more sensitive. No matter how right Sal was, but being a minority in a tough neighborhood he should have known better not to insult Radio with the manner he did, giving him the N word in front of his other fellas and smashed his boombox, what exactly did Sal expect from his action? A kiss of apology from Radio and friends?
And when thing escalates ugly, luckily it's only Sal's pizzeria that got demolished and not him and his sons along. Things could get worse and it's all but the handicap of being a minority when you provoke the majority. And that's a fact.
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What did they expect to happen after provoking Sal so much? For him to just take their abuse?
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It doesn't make you racist for being on Sal's side, in regards to that issue. I'm on his side too. It's his business and he can put whoever he wants on the wall.
DWIGHT - you ignorant slut!
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