More than 15 years old it may be, but Spike Lee's articulate howl of anguish for the state of US race relations remains barbed and ageless. On the hottest day of the year, a tense Brooklyn melting-pot finally catches fire, with factions clashing around Sal's (Danny Aiello) Italian-American pizzeria. It's funny, unpreachy and beautifully shot in luminous, sweltering oranges. The film walks a careful balance between Dr Martin Luther King's pacifism and Malcolm X's any-means-necessary polemic. But Lee refuses to come down on either side, leaving it open for the viewer to decide what "the right thing" actually is.
DVD Extras:
Lee's soporific commentary is livened up by perky producer contributions and the behind-the-scenes featurettes are sparse but fun. Best though is the hour-long Making Of doc that shows how the producers took over a street in Brooklyn and recast it as a kind of all-purpose Sesame Street with multicoloured racial undercurrents.
