Spike Lee's second full length feature film is a musical comedy drama set in an all black college.
It is polished but it also feels raw and undercooked with a sprawling story and the surreal ending never quiet comes off.
The film is mainly about two cousins. Dap (Larry Fishburne) is a black solidarity activist at the campus of Mission College. He is making a stand against apartheid in South Africa as this all black college still has investments in the country when Ivy League colleges have divested away.
Half-Pint (Spike Lee) is undergoing hazing to join the school's main fraternity led by Julian (Giancarlo Esposito) the 'Dean Big Brother Almighty.' Julian cares little about politics or racial identity. His hazing is not dissimilar to that carried out in white colleges, he is happy to humiliate his fellow black man
Spike Lee as filmmaker does care about racial identity. Dap's gang are black, dark skinned with afro hair. Julian's gang are lighter skinned, the women called the Gamma Rays straighten their hair. This is a theme that will be continued by Lee in other films such as Malcolm X.
There is an nostalgic and energetic air about this film. It is part Animal House and West Side Story with its song and dance numbers. The rivalry between Dap's gang and Julian's. Two sides of the black coin.
There is a scene in a fast food joint where a group of unemployed black men led by Samuel L Jackson who are unimpressed by Dap's bourgeoise activism and put him down. In a white society Dap even with all his education will always be an outsider and is rapidly becoming one within his own community, they are taking jobs away from Jackson and his friends.
As for the ending, my take is Julian's girlfriend came to self harm after what he made her do. A better explanation than Fishburne repeatedly shouting 'Wake Up!' Lee should had closed out his film in a more satisfying manner.
Another weakness in the film is Spike Lee the actor, he is not very good in comparison with his co-stars. Although Fishburne was 27 years old when this film was made, he was already a veteran having made movies since he was a kid with the likes of Francis Coppola. Many of the actors were also too old to be playing college students. Spike Lee was 30 and Bill Nunn was 35.
It is polished but it also feels raw and undercooked with a sprawling story and the surreal ending never quiet comes off.
The film is mainly about two cousins. Dap (Larry Fishburne) is a black solidarity activist at the campus of Mission College. He is making a stand against apartheid in South Africa as this all black college still has investments in the country when Ivy League colleges have divested away.
Half-Pint (Spike Lee) is undergoing hazing to join the school's main fraternity led by Julian (Giancarlo Esposito) the 'Dean Big Brother Almighty.' Julian cares little about politics or racial identity. His hazing is not dissimilar to that carried out in white colleges, he is happy to humiliate his fellow black man
Spike Lee as filmmaker does care about racial identity. Dap's gang are black, dark skinned with afro hair. Julian's gang are lighter skinned, the women called the Gamma Rays straighten their hair. This is a theme that will be continued by Lee in other films such as Malcolm X.
There is an nostalgic and energetic air about this film. It is part Animal House and West Side Story with its song and dance numbers. The rivalry between Dap's gang and Julian's. Two sides of the black coin.
There is a scene in a fast food joint where a group of unemployed black men led by Samuel L Jackson who are unimpressed by Dap's bourgeoise activism and put him down. In a white society Dap even with all his education will always be an outsider and is rapidly becoming one within his own community, they are taking jobs away from Jackson and his friends.
As for the ending, my take is Julian's girlfriend came to self harm after what he made her do. A better explanation than Fishburne repeatedly shouting 'Wake Up!' Lee should had closed out his film in a more satisfying manner.
Another weakness in the film is Spike Lee the actor, he is not very good in comparison with his co-stars. Although Fishburne was 27 years old when this film was made, he was already a veteran having made movies since he was a kid with the likes of Francis Coppola. Many of the actors were also too old to be playing college students. Spike Lee was 30 and Bill Nunn was 35.