10 Most Racially Charged Films Ever Made

1. Do The Right Thing (1989)

Set on the hottest day of the summer in a small Brooklyn neighborhood, Spike Lee's Do The Right Thing has a melting pot of racial tension boiling at its core. The film tells the story, primarily through the eyes of the neighborhood pizza delivery boy Mookie (Lee) who is looked at as a sort of medium between all the different groups on the street, both social and racial. As the day heats up so do the tensions between the residents, who come from a varying range of ethnic backgrounds, in particular the African-American, Italian and Korean inhabitants. The majority of the tension comes from the local Italian pizzeria (where Mookie is employed) run by Sal (Danny Aiello) and his racist sons (John Turturro and Richard Edson). The film climaxes with one of the neighborhood's young African-American men being murdered at the hands of the corrupt NYPD in the pizzeria. A riot seems about to break out, with no one person taking the blame for what has just happened. Mookie throws a trash can through the window of the pizzeria, ushering in a full scale attack on Sal's Pizzeria, the source for the resident's grief confusion and anger. This grief, confusion and anger has been rising not only all day in the heat, but throughout each person's life, the ones who are witnessing a racially motivated murder occur in front of their eyes once again. What Lee accomplishes by having Mookie throw the trashcan through the window is openly pinpoint the source of where the racial tension is stemming from. He doesn't allow himself or his fellow black neighbors to be victims of a world where they suffer from racial inadequacies and instead fights through that resentment to allow for a cathartic and inevitable release. This film and Lee's ultimate message holds no punches in showing us first hand what happens if you allow yourself to be stepped over, in particular when it is racially motivated, and ultimately what you can do to stop it. Are there any other racially charged films we may have missed? Have your say in the comment section below.