BEFORE: OK, so Ed Norton carries over from "The Bourne Legacy", for Film #2 of what I think will be an 8-movie stint, but only 7 of them will be in direct succession, and I need to save one for linking between two other chains. Those are the breaks, but it will follow in a couple days - I tried arranging these films 18 different ways, and there was no way to get all 8 Norton films together without breaking the chain somewhere else.
I saw the Norton-a-thon coming together over a year ago, and there was always a reason to wait for one more film - oh, I'll just wait until I get a copy of "Moonrise Kingdom". You know what, maybe I should wait until some channel runs "The Grand Budapest Hotel". Well, if this is the last year of the project, I need to clear out all the inventory. All the Ed Norton films must go, and this is the week.
THE PLOT: Cornered by the DEA, convicted New York drug dealer Montgomery Brogan reevaluates his life in the 24 remaining hours before facing a seven-year jail term.
AFTER: I came up through NYU film school, during the late 80's when Spike Lee was just hitting his stride, and he was revered at my university, having graduated with a Master's Degree just 3 years earlier. So they made us watch his thesis film, "Joe's Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads", and I just didn't get it. It was just a bunch of people in an urban barbershop talking, who cares about that? Boring boring boring.
Then "She's Gotta Have It" hit big, and by the time I graduated, "Do the Right Thing" was in theaters, and I started to think the guy might - MIGHT - have some talent. But "Do the Right Thing" had two problems, as I saw it. First off, it was a very talky-talky picture, except for a burst of action at the end. Secondly, all that talky-talk seemed to be about racism, and that would be fine, except he chose to display people of all races and colors shouting every single possible racial epithet, in order to make his point. The theory was, I suppose, that you had to get a dialogue going by showing how bad the problem was - but the thing is, if you stoop to the lowest level, you're going to turn off a lot of people in the process.
We've all heard the expression "fight fire with fire". But if you think about it, it's a terrible suggestion. You shouldn't fight fire with fire, you fight fire with water. Or by taking away it's oxygen, or it's source of fuel. But firemen don't come to a burning building with hoses that spray fire, now, do they? So I always felt that fighting racism with more racism just maybe wasn't the best way to go. You want to show how bad race relations are in NYC? Fine, but why can't you do that in a more adult way? Like, err, Gandhi? No, wait, bad choice. Like Martin Luther King or other prominent peaceful protestors?
So now it's 25 years after "Do the Right Thing", and I've watched a few more Spike Lee movies, like "Summer of Sam", "Crooklyn" and "Inside Man". But watching "25th Hour" sort of seemed like a return to form, in that the film is very talky-talky, and there's a bit where Norton's character looks in the mirror and talks to himself, spouting every possible racial epithet, being mad at blacks, whites, gays, Muslims, Hispanics, old people - hey, at least he's an equal opportunity hater. But as I've said several times this week, the more things change, the more they stay the same.
I didn't think it was OK for Mookie to hate Italians, or Korean deli-owners, nor was it OK for the Italians and Koreans to hate back. You want to improve this city? Find a way to break the chain, send a positive message. How about a film where everyone in the city learns to live together? The epithets sound even worse coming from a white man in tonight's film, it's like the black director's opinion about who white people hate, and why. OK, so the character eventually realizes that his anger is misplaced, and in the end he's the one to blame for his situation. Still not OK, because all those racist thoughts came from somewhere - and if that was a narrative fake-out, why even have it in the film at all? Racism won't end if people keep giving it a voice.
It's worth noting that this film came out in 2002, and there are several references to the 9/11 attacks. The film opens with a shot of the giant beams of light that shine on the anniversaries, and one character has an apartment that directly overlooks the WTC site - the long, lingering overhead shots of the construction equipment are there to send a message. Is it a coincidence that the phrase "towel-headed camel jockeys" turns up in the film? Great, now there's a permanent record of how racist some people became in the years right after the attack.
But here's the thing - most New Yorkers DIDN'T turn anti-Muslim as a result, in the same way that French people aren't hating all Muslims right now. Because we know that terrorist actions are performed by individuals, not by entire races. Oh, sure, there was some flap over a mosque being built in downtown NY, but that's another thing that just ended up pointing out the people who couldn't tell the difference. It helped us identify where the racists were.
This film manages to pick up some speed in the last half hour, but it's a long, slow slog to get there. I just have to question the choices made, in focusing on a drug-dealer's last day before he goes to serve time. I mean, what's more interesting, the drug-dealing itself ("Scarface", "American Gangster") or the introspection afterwards? What's more exciting, seeing a guy serve time ("Shawshank Redemption", countless others) or hearing a guy talk about what it's going to be like? This ends up being one of the worst violators of the "Show, don't tell" rule. It's all talk and (almost) no action.
NITPICK POINT: I'm pretty sure they don't let you drive yourself to prison upstate. Something tells me that most of the time you'd already be behind bars in a holding cell, or else they'd send someone to come and get you. I'm guessing it's not like driving to a hotel and checking in.
Also starring Philip Seymour Hoffman (last seen in "The Master"), Barry Pepper (last seen in "The Lone Ranger"), Rosario Dawson (last seen in "Alexander"), Brian Cox (last seen in "RED 2"), Anna Paquin (last seen in "X-Men: Days of Future Past"), Tony Siragusa, Isiah Whitlock Jr., with a cameo from Patrice O'Neal.
RATING: 3 out of 10 Russian mobsters
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