12 Movies That Made You Work Out The Answer Yourself
3. Do The Right Thing
The Question: Why did Mookie (Spike Lee) throw the trashcan through Sal's (Danny Aiello) Pizzeria?
The crux of Spike Lee's classic drama revolves around whether Mookie did the right thing with his climactic act of vandalism.
There are two key ways to look at it: he either encouraged the subsequent riot by "throwing the first stone", or by redirecting the impending violence towards Sal's business rather than Sal himself for the death of Radio Raheem (Bill Nunn), he saved the man's life.
It's entirely possible the reality is a mix of the two and an angry Mookie wanted to bristle against Sal and his racism, while also ensuring he wasn't killed.
The lack of clarity is terrific in terms of highlighting one of the film's big themes: our actions are rarely as black-and-white as we might want to believe them to be.