Originally Posted by PrometheusFG
So, Sinny McGuffins, make me change my mind...
Simma dahn nah!
I don't think anyone here needs or intends to change anyones mind about anything. One can only really begin to understand another's view when they at least attempt to set aside their own strong heartfelt views on a subject, as opposed to placing their beliefs around them, as if they were some sort of defense to be breeched.
Your opinion is respected, and no one wishes to change it in order to become more aligned with their own. I am enlivened by the idea that AHX inspires and affects you so much. That is why we watch films, or it's why I do anyway. DIfferent films affect different people in different ways.
My issues with AHX are more with the technical aspects of how certain issues were handled, as opposed to the content or the players performances. Norton is fantastic in his role, but I feel he was put in some over-the-top situations that could have been handled more elegantly. It's just how the film came across to me. A racial film that gets a bit too heavy handed at times, like Crash, but it uses different methods. AHX went the shock route a few to many times, crash went with the melodrama a few too many times.
Do The Right Thing appealed to me more because of the negatives you listed. The simmering (Simma!), slowly percolating, pressurizing build of the film exactly aligns with the tension I perceive in reality. I don't walk down the street and see people getting smashed into pavement, but I certainly see and feel the underlying racial tension in the world. That's what I mean by over the top. I believe these uber-violent events happen, but it's not what defines racism in the world to me. A small sector of the population experience stuff on the level with AHX, the extreme of racism. A vast sector of the population deals with oppressive racial tension on a daily bases. This insidious pressure on our society affects more people on a deeper level, as far as I can tell. Do The Right Thing ALSO shocked me, but didn't overuse the device.
That is why flat out shock treatment of an age old, serious world issue gets holds less clout with me. Just how I look at it.
Again, it's not a bad film, by any stretch, just not an amazing achievement, IMO.
Originally Posted by Alvin
It was the very ending that put me off, the 'shoot me, shoot me...' bit, I know it was meant to be horrific, but to me it seemed horror film horrific rather than serious horrific.
This could be a valid call, and I have heard it before. Not with me though.
I urge you to watch again, and this time concentrate on the powerful metaphor on structure vs chaos, and also on duality, used in the film. Everything from the structure of cinematography to the character interaction deals with these concepts. Thematically, visually, aurally.... So brilliant. Add to this the visceral nature of the film, and you have a complete package of philosophical, theatrical, and vicseral depth.
Power on every order of magnitude.