Silkwood

SPOILER ALERT! The plot will be discussed.

Silkwood is a 1983 film which Mike Nichols directed based on a screenplay by Nora Ephron and Alice Arlen. It is based on a true story but has the same warning that the fictional The China Syndrome contained about the possible dangers of nuclear power. This movie stresses how those in charge can control, invalidate, and maybe even eliminate those far down on the capitalistic food chain. However, the main character here is not some exemplary hero, since her many flaws are on display. The movie suggests that one’s background does not invalidate a person’s exposing an injustice, and the voice of the less powerful should not be silenced.

The opening shot reveals a rural countryside and a car approaching a street sign showing the distance to Crescent and Oklahoma City. (I find it preferable when a director does not put titles to show a location but makes the revelation part of the story). Banjo music plays adding a country-western soundtrack to match the visuals. The old car riding along the road towards the camera points to a lack of affluence here. The three people in the automobile are the principal characters: Karen Silkwood (Meryl Streep, in one of her numerous Oscar nominations, here for Best Actress); Drew Stephens (Kurt Russell); and Dolly Pelliker (Cher, nominated for Best Supporting Actress). They work at a nuclear power plant owned by the Kerr-Magee company. The film (which takes place in 1974) starkly contrasts the average people living in a natural setting with this high tech and potentially dangerous facility that may be a threat to the area in which it stands.

Men in dress suits walk above the local employees on a catwalk, which denotes their superior positions removed from those below. Karen works with others, including Morgan (Fred Ward), who tell stories about the supernatural power of prayer, predictions by psychic Jeane Dixon, and freakish physical accomplishments in a place where science dominates. Karen and the others are mixing plutonium and uranium in a glove box to make radioactive pellets. The plant manager asks Karen to explain the process to a group of trainees. Since she has her back to them, she grins to her fellow workers, which shows us that what they do has become routine for them. The suppressed laughter and the fact that they chew gum suggest that they have a dislike for anything that sounds intellectually pretentious. When one of the trainees asks the manager conducting the tour about the dangers of the radioactive material, he says it’s like being out in the sun, which can be dangerous if one isn’t careful. His comparison is very flawed considering how much more lethal the exposure to these materials can be, and immediately demonstrates the company’s use of deception to downplay the risk of being around radioactive substances. 

After the group moves away, Karen has gum stuck on her face. She calls Wesley (David Strathairn) over and jokingly says she needs the help of a “trained technician” to help her remove it, again showing how they do not take themselves too seriously. At lunchtime, Karen asks for permission to get time off to see her children, so we know she doesn’t have custody, raising questions about her character. She is chastised because she wants to leave without monitoring her radiation level, which she apparently often forgets to do, suggesting carelessness on Karen’s part. 

In the lunchroom, male workers sitting with Drew talk about a rumor that there was a leak in a truck carrying radioactive material, and they say the vehicle was “cooked.” Also, based on past experiences, they say the men on the truck probably were not protected from exposure. One man wonders how they are going to safely get rid of all this toxicity. Drew talks about shooting the stuff into space or to the moon. The question of the problems associated with nuclear energy come up, but the solutions seem extreme or nonexistent. Karen circulates around the room and even flirts with Winston (Craig T. Nelson), a new x-ray technician in the Metallography Department, even though she just told her boyfriend, Drew, that she “hates” his type. She grabs the sandwich of another worker. She approaches foreman Hurley (Bruce McGill) to ask for the weekend off, but she has waited too close to the end of the week to make her request, Along with not checking her exposure, what happens in this scene shows Karen is someone who doesn't like to play by the rules. 

As Karen and her fellow employees gear up for the rest of the day’s work, she asks for someone to cover her weekend shift, but the others are busy. A loud alarm goes off, and it is just another in a series of tests. But, Wesley is suspicious, saying that the company says it’s a test, but someone probably was just “fried.” Gilda Schultz (E. Katherine Kerr) says that they have a number of tests, but don’t go through the “drills.” Without that preparation, she asks, “If this was a real airborne contamination, how we’re supposed to get out of here?” Morgan says cynically that they will not do the drills because it would slow down production. These people are just trying to make a living, but they do have their concerns. It seems they are worried that if they become vocal about the safety issues, they will be labeled troublemakers, and they may lose their jobs. Karen wishes selfishly that if there was a leak, the plant would shut down, and she could visit her kids. Gilda shows her generosity by agreeing to cover for Karen. 

Sometimes a chance occurrence can change the course of a life. According to IMDb, Meryl Streep said that Mike Nichols told her the movie is about people who were metaphorically asleep, but then something happened that caused them to wake up. In the film, Karen has her consciousness raised. This understanding starts at the end of this day, as Karen notices that men with torches are dismantling a truck. A guard comes by and she asks what is going on. The man just tells her to go away. When a person refuses to answer a harmless question, it means someone is trying to hide something. Based on the lunch conversation, the company is covertly destroying the contaminated truck. 

Drew and Karen are in their bedroom the next day. There is a large Confederate flag hung above the bed, so we can guess at the occupants’ political orientation. These are not left-wing environmental radicals that want to bring down corporations. Karen, Dolly and Drew take a trip to see Karen’s children. They cross the border into Texas, where the primary American fuel, oil, is being produced. They raise the windows on the car, and Dolly says the area “Stinks.” Karen says, “That’s home. That’s why I left.” Karen attaches the physical stench to the emotional feeling she has about the state. So far we have encountered dangerous and pollution creating forms of energy. 

Karen again makes the mistake of not following procedures by expecting to take her children to the beach for the weekend without asking the father, Pete Dawson (Ray Baker), who has made other plans for the next two days. He says she can only have their offspring for a few hours. Pete works at an oil field (those two words don’t seem to go together well), so both parents depend on the energy industry for their livelihood. She has two girls and a boy and they ask where their mommy has been, so it appears she has been derelict in her maternal duties. At the restaurant with her three kids she seems flustered in her inability to handle the children, and curses after she told Dolly not to use such words. When they bring the children back, Pete informs Karen that he will be moving farther away, closer to the Mexican border, because oil was found there. 

So, Karen has not been an empowered person in many aspects of her life. She provides another example of this fact on the way back to Oklahoma. She admits that she and Pete were underage and thought they could get married in Louisiana, but were denied permission. However, because they were considered to have a common law marriage, they did have to officially get divorced. This contradiction is not lost on Dolly who says, “Goddamn government fucks you coming and going.” Streep gets to show off her lovely voice as she sings “Amazing Grace.” The words about being saved seem to contradict the reality of her situation at that time. She says that she could have driven off with her children. Drew suggests he sees Karen’s irresponsibility when he asks, “What would you have done with them?” She shrugs and confesses she does not have a clue. It’s the idea of having a family that she likes, but she is not prepared to cope with motherhood. 

Back at work, a male friend of Karen’s, Joe (Will Patton), tells Karen he and other men were “burying” a truck a couple of days prior. The word implies a literal and figurative cover-up. Drew wants to know who the smiling Joe is, and she just says it’s a friend of a friend. But one gets the impression that Karen has been with other men, and Drew, out of jealousy, questions her whenever she speaks to other guys. 

Little details add texture to the story. One woman, Thelma (Sudie Bond), talks about her daughter borrowing her good wig because her child is battling cancer. Right after one feels sympathy for her situation, Thelma then undermines that compassion as she reveals her bigotry when she says they were letting her child die “next to a colored” person.  Gilda talks about going to church and getting sick from a casserole, which just shows everyday happenings that may occur anywhere (although getting sick from tainted food resonates with the idea that many people can be sickened by radiation from the plant). Karen finds out Gilda didn’t have to cover Karen’s shifts because the plant closed down due to contamination right after Karen left work on Friday. Gilda tells Karen that the rumor is that the company wants to blame Karen for the contamination because she wanted to get the weekend off, and had expressed the wish that the facility would shut down. 

Karen along with her fellow employees are now in hazmat gear as others scrub the walls of their work area. The other workers go along with the company line and blame her for the radiation leak in her area. When Karen visits where Drew is working she says she hates that people think she would do something dangerous like cause a toxic leak. He sarcastically tells her to quit and live off of her “savings.” His statement shows how her poverty keeps her, and by implication all the workers there, under the thumb of the company. Quincy (Henderson Forsythe), who is the local union leader, explains the scapegoat policy of the owners who have “to blame somebody, otherwise, it’s their fault.” The company can’t prove Karen is guilty, so instead those in charge spread a poisonous rumor. Quincy’s statement is not only an admission about the reality of the strength of those in power, but also the feeling that it is next to impossible to challenge them. One of the male workers gawks at Karen, and she realizes she is being objectified sexually. She flashes a breast at him to embarrass his adolescent behavior, but she also demonstrates her rule-breaking attitude. Karen’s uninhibited sexual nature is stressed in the next scene when Dolly is cleaning Winston’s office and he tries to put a move on her. She says she is “really not interested,” and that is not an exaggeration since, as we learn later, she is gay. However, she advises him to “try Karen,” which also reflects jealousy on her part concerning Karen’s sexual activity.

Dolly walks out and sees Thelma being rushed to the decontamination unit. Dolly tells Karen, who then runs to be with Thelma as she is washed down. The older woman cries that the sensor alarm went off after she suspected a leak. She has a daughter who is dying of cancer, and Thelma’s wig sitting on the table suggests that she may be joining her child. Earl Lapin (Charles Hallahan), the medical person there, says there was “no internal contamination.” But Thelma points out the man was trained as a veterinarian. It’s not very comforting to know that the company hired someone whose credentials are in doubt. 

Back home, Dolly and Drew joke as Drew says he will have to sell his body to earn enough money to open an auto and live bait shop. She says she’ll give him five dollars for his body and consider it “a charitable donation.” But Karen was rattled by what is happening at the nuclear power plant and aims displaced anger toward them. When Karen says that Thelma might get cancer, Dolly, referring to her janitorial job, says “Dolly Trashbags” is the one who will get the disease. Karen claims that Dolly makes everything about herself. The look on Dolly’s face shows that the remark hurt her. Drew says they all are equally at risk getting sick from the radiation. Outside, Drew asks the in-denial Karen if she is just “waking up” after two years to the risk they take working at the plant. He says sarcastically that they aren’t working with “puffed rice.” He points out that if she is really worried about cancer, she should stop smoking, which the film shows all the characters indulge in. Karen hesitates a minute, as if naively not realizing that health risks are all around her. As they go to bed, there is a shot of Dolly sitting by herself at the kitchen table. That loneliness carries over into the next morning as Dolly sits alone again near the living room window. Karen apologizes for being angry with her. Dolly says she loves Karen, and Karen tells her she loves her, too, but just as a friend. Dolly has clung to Karen and thus put herself in emotional jeopardy even though she has no chance at an intimate relationship.

At work, after having seen what Thelma went through, Karen starts to talk about the conditions they have to deal with. One of the male workers wants to know why Karen is now so interested in their health. She is becoming a responsible adult and is starting to “wake up” to the danger they are in. She feels guilty that she didn’t notice that Thelma wasn’t given a nasal smear to determine internal contamination. When she sees the woman outside, Karen tells Thelma to get the smear, which shows she is now thinking about the welfare of others. She says that she should make sure that they tell Thelma the readings because there are a “lot of liars around here.” She happens to say these words just as Hurley walks by, and he looks at her like she is in trouble. 

Karen helps celebrate Gilda's birthday at work, and the little bit of fun the employees are having dies down as Hurley enters their area (from above, of course, again stressing the powerful position of the boss). He rains on their parade as he complains how they are behind on production and don’t have time for a party. He threatens them with losing their jobs if they take even this small amount of time away from their duties. He is such a joyless company man that he tells Karen she should clean up the cake crumbs after her workday.

Later, Karen performs routine vacuuming after the cleaning of the contaminated area where she works. As she leaves she monitors herself and alarms go off. So, the procedures of the company to make the work area safe are inadequate. Karen now undergoes the humiliating scrubbing that she witnessed Thelma undergoing as the threat has become even more immediate to her. She must bring in urine samples on a regular basis. Back home, Karen recounts a past conversation with her mother who asked how she was taking care of her fingernails. It is a recollection to a time when that simple personal grooming item was important and now seems insignificant given her deadly exposure. She remembers when she was in school and her mother told her to take home economics, and Karen told her the boys were in science class. These seemingly simple words show what roles boys and girls were expected to assume. Even if Karen took science, it was just to meet boys, not find a career. The irony is that she works in a place created by those in the science field, and because corners were cut from the business side of science’s discoveries, she is in danger. Drew quietly says he wishes he could take better care of her, and kisses her, saying he can’t stay away from Karen, even if it risks exposing himself. It is frightening to think that it is literally dangerous to be affectionate toward someone a person cares about. 

Now that the threat has hit home, Karen pulls out information provided by the union that she did not read before, since many people in this location just need a job, and in economically depressed areas, health is put on the back burner when one must cook the food on the front ones. Karen reads to Dolly about how plutonium causes cancer and can be transmitted genetically to children. She reads that it can cause physical and mental defects. Dolly comments humorously that she already has those. It is a funny line, but it also shows how average folks tend to dismiss science in everyday life because it sounds too complicated or could be a threat to regular routines. 

Karen finds out she has been transferred to the Metallography Department, which means she can’t acquire overtime pay until she learns the new job. Her employer exposed Karen to poor safety conditions, and then punished her economically, as if for retribution for her alleged negligence. She must now work with the sleazy Winston. It is his department that checks to make sure that the welds in fuel rods containing radioactive elements are intact. However, Karen happens upon Winston doctoring x-rays, filling in white spots with a dark pen. When she questions him, he says he already checked the welds and they were fine, and he was simply correcting imperfections in the film. Here is another example of the company eliminating safety steps that would fix a dangerous problem because being thorough would result in slowing down lucrative production time. 

To add insult to contaminating injury, the company is trying to get rid of the union. Kerr-Magee obtained enough signatures from workers worried about losing their jobs if they disagreed with their employer to hold a “decertification” vote. Quincy, the union man, says the company is making one and a half billion dollars, which shows that they are raking in the profits with little regard for their employees. He also says that because of a failed workers’ strike in the prior year they lost union members. Karen volunteers to help as she moves toward labor activism. She is assigned to a negotiating committee. Drew warns her that she has to use restraint because her flashing people and cursing them will not go over well when dealing with management. We have the theme here (similar to that other movie about the plight of workers, Norma Rae) that one’s past should not diminish the facts concerning the present. 

Drew and Karen try to suppress giggles when they hear lovemaking sounds coming from Dolly’s room. In the morning they learn that Dolly hooked up with a beautician named Angela (Diana Scarwid), so Dolly’s gay status is out in the open, as opposed to the company’s desire to hide the truth. Dolly, like Karen, breaks the rules of “acceptable” society. Is she capable of evolving by attempting to detach herself from her romantic feelings for Karen, or is she hoping to make Karen jealous? After Dolly and Angela leave, Karen and Drew say there is nothing wrong with Dolly having a gay relationship, but Karen insightfully notes that talking about it means they are allowing discussion where there shouldn’t be any. However, they are not as enlightened as they pretend when they are both a bit shocked when they see Angela moving in with Dolly.

Karen is now, like Norma Rae, very involved in union business. She argues on the phone at home that the company has no right to stop them during their breaks from discussing union activities. Drew walks in, but as soon as he hears what Karen is doing, he turns right around and walks out. He does not like change, like many people, but is also feeling neglected. He is like Norma Rae’s husband played by Beau Bridges, who feels as if he is losing touch with his female companion. Angela, while applying makeup on Dolly, warns Karen about Kerr-Magee because the company is very powerful. She has learned that fact from working on their clients. An angry Drew, not happy about Angela now living there, says Dolly looks like a “corpse.” He then finds out that Angela (an angel of death?) works at the funeral home. So Drew’s comment about Dolly’s appearance takes a dark turn, which is stressed when Angela says she knows, “when a dead person I beautify worked for Kerr-Magee because they all look like they died before they died.” Her chilling comment implies that the nuclear facility drains the life out of the people who ironically are trying to make a living there. 

The foreshadowing of death continues when Angela advises Karen to wear something that will not wrinkle on her plane trip to Washington D.C. to attend a conference. Drew, not feeling comfortable with the presence of death that Angela represents, uses dark humor by telling Karen she can wear a “shroud.” 

In Washington, national union lawyer Paul Stone (Ron Silver) and union leader Max Richter (Josef Sommer) meet Karen, Quincy, and Morgan to prepare them for the meeting with the Atomic Energy Commission. Richter is polite but leaves early because all he is hearing are complaints without evidence of wrongdoing. Karen runs after the union men who have left and mentions about the altered x-ray films of rods that are meant to be shipped to a breeder reactor. Richter points out that defective fuel rods in that type of nuclear device could kill two million people. He wants her to get documentation of the falsification of the radiographs so the union can blow the whistle on the company. Karen is reluctant to go public out of fear of retribution. Karen is now like a character in a Steven Spielberg film, an ordinary person who is in extraordinary circumstances. She must decide whether to accept Richter’s challenge to act as he says the situation constitutes “a moral imperative.” 

The story jumps back to Oklahoma, where Quincy is presenting a slide show of the trip with Karen and Drew in attendance. There are pictures of the Capitol Building and the Lincoln Memorial, idealized symbols of justice which contrast with the actual disregard by the company for the citizens working at the reactor building. There are compromising shots of Karen arm-in-arm with Paul in front of the hotel Karen stayed at, and also of the two sitting very close at a dinner table. Karen and Drew look uncomfortable as they view these slides. On the way home, Karen assures Drew that nobody else knows about her spying for the union, so others are safe from detection. But her actions also leave her more on her own. She repeats the “moral imperative” line to justify what she will try to do. But she has not been moral in her own life, since it appears that she was unfaithful to Drew. His reaction is less visionary and more practical as he sees many people losing their jobs by fighting the company. 

Back home, Drew suggests that if they quit their jobs then the two could go away together. He already earns money as a car mechanic on the side. But she says she can’t leave now. The implication is that she has found a purpose beyond her personal wants. But he tells her he already quit and just wants her to himself. He is basically forcing her to make a choice between her cause or him. She walks away when he says he doesn’t “give a shit” about others, and then he says to his pessimistic, cynical, yet realistic self, “Don’t give me a problem I can’t solve.” Drew then moves out, saying Karen is now like two people, and he is in love with one of them, which is the older version. One could say he should have stayed to support Karen’s cause, but some people are just not cut out for the type of life that demands deep self-sacrifice, sometimes at the expense of loved ones.

There is some suspense when Winston catches Karen looking in one of his desk drawers. She says the company doesn’t allow her to bring in medication so she hid antihistamines there. He says he doesn’t believe her, but he finds a bottle of capsules. She may have planted them there just in case a situation such as this one occurred. At a meeting with Paul and some doctors, the workers learn that a pollen-sized bit of plutonium can cause cancer. The materials the company gave the employees note nothing about the risks of developing anything carcinogenic. Again, the big business kept knowledge a secret for exploitative purposes, and even lied about an acceptable level of exposure which the doctors say there is none. After the meeting, Winston confronts Paul and makes a good point, asking why is the union so concerned now that the company has plans to decertify, and were not trying to protect the health of the workers before? Winston says no matter what happens to the employees, Paul gets to go back to his safe job in Washington. He says that the company is rich enough that they would close the plant to avoid bad publicity and then all the workers would lose their jobs, which is what the practical Drew was telling Karen. Winston however denies the idea that the workers are in any harm since he obviously has been bought off to falsify the x-rays. 

Paul says they should not get too involved romantically, and after he leaves, Karen can’t get in touch with him anymore. She calls to tell him that the union defeated decertification but then describes how much stress she is under. However, the voicemail cuts her off. First the company used her and now so has one of the union representatives. Winston was right about Paul not really caring about its members as individuals but only about the union’s overall organization, similar to the company’s practice. The stress on Karen is evident as there is animosity between Karen and Dolly because of her focus on her local union participation. Karen calls to talk with her children, but she does so after her work shift and union activities are done for the day, so they are always asleep. She feels “alone” now, which is partly due to her own choices. 

Karen escapes her personal problems through her activism at the nuclear plant. Hurley tries to undermine the union by telling Thelma that the union will not allow blood donations for her ailing daughter. At a meeting with Hurley, who keeps delaying any negotiations with the union, he denies he lied to Thelma about the donating of blood. Karen, feeling empowered now, says she has already scheduled a bloodmobile to come to the location. 

Dolly is now feeling depressed because she misses Drew and especially because Angela went back to her husband. Dolly’s character arc mirrors Karen’s as they both try to move forward only to have lovers reject them along the way. She at first blames Angela’s leaving on Karen’s animosity toward her girlfriend. The two escalate their argument because they are both hurting. Dolly says that Drew left because Karen didn’t take care of him, the same way she didn’t meet the needs of her children. That last remark gets at what really is tearing Karen apart. Dolly, who really loves Karen, apologizes and the two sit on a swing on the porch. Karen wonders if Drew was right about quitting and moving away to some place that’s “clean.” That word stresses the toxicity of the place where they work. Dolly, still hoping for Karen's affection, asks if just the two of them can leave together. Karen smiles and shakes her head because she knows she can’t give Dolly what she wants. Dolly knows it, too, and cries. Karen holds Dolly to comfort her, and rocks her, as the two appear like a mother with her child. She even sings Dolly a lullaby.

At the job, Karen says she is not hungry, and Gilda says the same about her husband. Are the two feeling effects of radiation poisoning? Gilda says it’s due to working too much and says her husband has been working late flushing out pipes because there has been a problem with accounting for lost plutonium. Karen zeroes in on that fact while the others just seem to want to dismiss the problem. But Karen knows it means that there could be some leaking of the lethal material, and writes down what Gilda says. Gilda says Karen should just be negotiating wages and avoid what is “none of our business.” She doesn’t want to acknowledge that, as Karen says, “this is our business.” That isolation Karen spoke of earlier carries over into the workplace as fellow employees now shun Karen. They fear her protests, which are aimed at improving their working environment, but they may cause the place to shut down. The film here suggests that the rich and powerful use the poverty of the workers as a tool against themselves, creating division among their members. 

Karen finally contacts Paul by using a public phone, probably worried that hers might be tapped. She notes the many health problems of the workers, but Paul stresses that they need the x-ray falsifications. He has put her in a dangerous position, using her as a pawn, and fellow union representative Morgan warns her of the danger she is in. Hurley uses intimidation by pointing out that Karen is late coming to work and returning from breaks (she was late before earlier on, but now it is not because of bad work habits but due to her crusade against unsafe conditions). 

After going to Gilda ‘s work area to try and get more information about the plutonium, which Gilda refuses to discuss, Karen again sets off the radiation monitoring alarm. She undergoes the scrubbing procedure once more, and Earl repeats that her exposure was superficial. He says she must now provide daily urine samples. In a foreshadowing scene, Karen, not feeling well, hits a deer and her car veers off the road. She calls Drew, and the two wind up in bed together. Dolly is thrilled that he is back, as she hopes for a return to their odd form of normalcy. But Drew tells Dolly he has his own place, and the two women are welcome to go there. His offer is a form of sanctuary to that “clean” place Karen yearned for, and shows how his coming back would just be an acceptance of an unhealthy situation. The fact that Karen spills some of her urine on the bathroom floor emphasizes the unclean nature of the place.

When Karen goes to work the next day, after being asked by the guard at the entrance how she’s doing, she jokingly says she’s “in the pink,” which is supposed to mean she’s okay. But pink is a shade of red, the color of being “cooked,” and the alarms go off before she even enters the building. The cleaning occurs again, and she cries as her body feels assaulted. Men from the company show up in hazmat gear and strip Karen’s house since the Geiger counter readings register radiation. The measures they take on the house are supposed to be for health reasons, but the company has created the mess that they are now cleaning up by invading Karen’s home. She fights to try to keep the framed photos of her children, but they take them from her, symbolically wiping away her family. Hurley says that there are no significant readings coming from Drew or Dolly, and none in Karen’s car. But there are elevated readings on the toilet, sink, and even cosmetics. Hurley accuses her of deliberately bringing the plutonium home just to “hurt” the company. Karen is smart, and remembers that she spilled the urine. She believes that the kit they gave her was “spiked” with plutonium, and when she spilled it the radiation spread. But her nasal swab indicates internal contamination, which the spilling would not explain. Karen is now hysterical from fear. Hurley seems compassionate now, promising to help Dolly with a place to stay and offering money. He is attempting to shut down her attempt at exposing the company’s unsafe work environment. Karen realizes his plan and says she knows he wants her to sign a statement that would waive any claims against the plant. She refuses to sacrifice her integrity and says that she is contaminated and she knows she is dying, and then drives off. 

Drew returns to the house he shared with Karen which now looks like a decaying corpse, which mirrors what happens to those ravaged by radiation exposure. Winston arrives and says he’s just looking around, but it appears that he is gloating. Drew’s outrage at what has happened to the person he loves boils over and he slugs Winston. He finds Karen at his house and Karen says she is convinced that the company has exposed her and wants her dead.

The three of them fly to Los Alamos, New Mexico, which has a history of dealing with nuclear bombs and radiation. The place seems to have caused and then tried to deal with the literal fallout of nuclear energy. On the plane, Karen reads an article by the journalist who Paul wanted to interview Karen. The article says that there is plutonium missing from almost all nuclear facilities. The danger is not just relegated to a few people, but now seems to be the threat that Karen heard about in Washington from union boss Richter. Karen wonders if the attack on her was because Dolly mentioned about Paul dealing with the New York Times, and Karen’s knowledge about the doctored x-rays. Dolly is not convincing in her denials, and she looks guilty. 

Despite the advanced scientific research and years of studying radioactive materials, the experts say they can be off by as much as three hundred percent in their readings. Karen has lost all faith in a world that finds individuals expendable, saying all the doctors are “liars.” She calls Paul and says she wants to talk to the journalist but she doesn't admit that she doesn’t have the x-ray evidence yet. As they fly back to Oklahoma, Drew says he would love to live in the southwestern part of America “forever,” The look on Karen’s face shows that she knows that her time left has become much more finite. Later Drew still talks about moving, and even having children, which Karen doubts can be possible now. He says in New Mexico you make the shapes of the rooms in a house any way one wants. He says, “It’s not a right-angle kind of life.” Karen has always been someone who didn’t comply with standard ways of living, but the personal tragedy is that she wasn’t able to find a place that really felt like home to her. 

Karen gets up the next morning, on time now, saying she has to go into work and then later to a union meeting. Drew warns her not to try and take anything out of the plant, suspecting she is going for the x-rays. That is why she wants Drew to pick up Paul and the journalist. She doesn’t want to fight with Drew and they smile and joke for the last time. In the background Karen again sings “Amazing Grace,” but now the words seem to imply that Karen has redeemed her soul. 

When she leaves the cafe after the union meeting there is over, it is dark. There are glaring headlights approaching very close to Karen’s car. The next image is that of Karen’s wrecked car, which was foretold by the earlier accident involving the deer.  There is a shot of Karen’s tombstone, but the last image is a flashback of Karen and Drew at their final happy moment together, followed by Karen driving off. It is a fitting closure to the story that started with her driving towards us. The movie ends with notes that say that Karen had a tranquilizer and alcohol in her system. Her death was declared to be accidental. No documents were found in her ruined car. The plant later closed. But her story now lasts forever.

The next film is Some Like It Hot.

Do the Right Thing

SPOILER ALERT! The plot will be discussed.

Spike Lee’s Do the Right Thing was released in 1989 but it would be difficult to find a movie more relevant to what is happening in 2020. The film is not a lecture, but instead has many voices that weigh in on the racial divide in America. It suggests that what is the right thing to do may not always be an easy choice, and may vary depending on the circumstances.

The story takes place during one Saturday in a congested, pressure-cooker area of Brooklyn in the summer, which reflects and contributes to the confrontations that occur. The movie’s technique runs from stylized to realistic as it accentuates the moods of the characters with bright colors and depicts stark anger at injustice. The movie begins with Rosie Perez dancing to the Public Enemy song “Fight the Power,” which has the line “We got to fight the powers that be” repeated. As the credits roll her movements appear as a fighter shadowboxing. The shots alternate between her in a dress and then in shorts and boxing gloves. Thus, the theme of conflict is established immediately. 

Many characters have symbolic names. The morning begins with DJ Mister Senor Love Daddy (Samuel L. Jackson) broadcasting on WE LOVE radio. (As we discover, the movie stresses the battle within people between love and hate). He starts out by urging listeners to, “Wake up!” He is both a literal and a consciousness-raising alarm clock. He indulges in some witty slang wordplay, but he is not just interested in presenting himself as slick since he also issues public service announcements. His words create a bridge to introduce other characters as his show is heard around the neighborhood. 

The first person who hears the DJ is Da Mayor, (Ossie Davis), a grumpy older African American who does not seem to want to face this hot day. The mentally challenged Smiley, (Roger Guenveur Smith) who doesn’t smile, is shot upward to stress the importance of his protest against apartheid. He stands in front of a Baptist church to add gravity to his words. But he stutters, possibly showing the damage due to the prejudice he has sustained and which could suggest that the messages of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X, whose photo depicting the two together that he holds and tries to sell like a religious item, have not been heard clearly in the battle against racial injustice. (Although united in their cause, the conflicting techniques of the two civil rights leaders is referenced in the movie). Lee plays Mookie who wears a shirt with Jackie Robinson’s name and number on it, which shows his respect for black athletes who became heroes. He lives with his sister, Jade (Joie Lee, Spike’s real sister), who he tries to wake up to begin what turns out to be a long day. 

Sal (Danny Aiello) arrives to open his pizzeria with his sons, Pino (John Turturro) and Vito (Richard Edson). They are white, but being of Italian descent, they do not represent Anglo-Saxon heritage, and those of their background have experienced stereotyping and bigotry. It seems illogical that Pino and Sal should demonstrate prejudicial attitudes toward others given their own people’s experiences. But racism defies logic. Pino slanders the residents at the same time his family’s eatery depends upon the black neighborhood to patronize the restaurant. Sal points out the fear between races when he says that the obviously white air conditioner repairman won’t visit the pizza joint “without a police escort.” Sal has been in business for many years and has stayed in the predominantly black area which shows he must hold affection for the community. Pino says he hates going to the area because “I detest this place like a sickness,” However, Sal shows pride in the fact that he runs a business there, and challenges Pino to be able to do better.

Mookie walks past the home of Mother Sister (Ruby Dee, who was married to Ossie Davis), whose name combines familial and religious components. She shows motherly concern, warning Mookie not to work too hard in the heat. She says she “always watches,” which stresses her caring for her flock. Mookie works at Sal’s and as soon as he enters, Pino references a racial stereotype when he says Mookie is late because his Cadillac broke down. Da Mayor arrives looking for some chores and Sal lets him sweep the sidewalk (a chore Pino was supposed to do), and gives him some money. Pino, again employing a stereotype, asks his father if he was going to continue to give out “welfare.” The lazy Pino, who delegates his chores to his brother, ironically questions Mookie’s work ethic, but Mookie challenges him to carry the same number of pizzas that he delivers. Sal says Mookie is a “good man,” and, as the other three men squabble, he plays referee, which shows he can be a man who seeks peace. 

Radio Raheem (Bill Nunn) appears, and in a big way. Lee has the large young man fill the screen as he carries a huge boombox that blares out music. The local young people say Raheem moves “very large” to the point he “even walks in stereo.” Their descriptions not only fit Raheem’s stature and love of music, but the “stereo” reference points to the scope of the words voiced by all the characters, as well as their multifaceted personalities. 

We already saw how Da Mayor scrounges for money. He wears a sports jacket that implies a desire for respectability but which is undercut by how filthy it appears. He is also a drunk, and Mother Sister scolds him for drinking in front of her place (Lee points the camera down at Da Mayor and up at Mother Sister to physically and figuratively place the audience in the different views of the characters, and at this point Mother Sister sees Da Mayor as someone of low esteem). He says that she will eventually be “nice” to him, or at least “civil.” It turns out to be an accurate prediction. Da Mayor tells Sister Mother that there is no cause to complain about him since he only wishes love for everyone, which is what the person of Love Daddy represents. However, he does not practice what he preaches when he shows anger toward the Korean grocery store owners for their lack of stocking his favorite beer. 

Also in contrast to Da Mayor’s words of love and the symbolism of the names of Love Daddy and that of the radio station is the yelling between Tina (Perez) and her mother over the amount of time needed to take care of Tina’s young boy. Alone with her son, she says not only her mother makes her sick, but “Your father makes me sick, too. Everybody makes me sick.” Mookie turns out to be the father. The film lays the groundwork as it progresses to show an accumulation of stress and anger that builds to an explosive ending. 

Continuing with the theme of love versus hate, three older black men sit at a table under an umbrella and show a combination of camaraderie and opposition as they argue over various subjects. ML (Paul Benjamin) says that the intense heat will melt polar caps and they will be submerged in water. His statement sounds like a prophecy about the arrival of another biblical world-ending flood, and adds to the movie’s heading toward some type of terrible climax. The others comically assault him, saying he couldn’t escape because he can’t afford a boat, having only “thirty cents short of a quarter,” and is so poor he only can “eat the holes out of donuts.” (IMDb says that the three older men improvised much of their dialogue, which is street witty).

Back at Sal’s, Buggin Out (Giancarlo Esposito, that’s right, Gus Fring from Breaking Bad) argues about the price of his slice of pizza and notices that only the pictures of white entertainers, like Frank Sinatra, Al Pacino, and Robert De Niro are hung on the restaurant’s “wall of fame.” Since Sal is making his living in a black neighborhood, Buggin Out wants to know why there are “no brothers up on the wall.” Sal responds, “You want brothers on the wall? Get your own place.” But as Roger Ebert points out, that is the crux of the problem. The inhabitants of this part of Brooklyn can’t afford their own places, which breeds contempt on the part of some of the patrons, which, in turn, stokes an angry response on the part of those running the businesses. Sal considers Buggin Out a “troublemaker,” and approaches him with a baseball bat (foreshadowing), as hostility mounts. The argumentative Pino, showing some good judgment here, is the one who stops his father from resorting to violence. Sal tells Mookie to remove his friend while Buggin Out urges others to “boycott” the establishment. Outside, Mookie tells his pal that he’s going to cause him to lose his job if he tells others to not eat there. So, the black guy is dependent on the white man’s employment, which keeps him in a subservient position, at least at this socio-economic level. Because of Mookie’s precarious position, Buggin Out reminds him to try to “stay black,” and not compromise himself too much. Mookie is no Uncle Tom, and speaks up for himself as a black man in the movie, but the question becomes how far will he go when a stand must be taken?

After Mookie tells Sal that he can’t control Buggin Out because he’s free to do what he wants, Sal dispels notions of freedom, saying he is the “boss” and what he says goes. One can’t help but think about when black people were enslaved, they would have to call the white master “boss.” On his way to delivering a pizza, Da Mayor pulls Mookie over and tells him to, “always do the right thing.” It’s a simple, and obvious, bit of advice. But, as we see, another cliché comes to mind, which is “that’s easier said than done,” and that what is “right” may depend on the situation. (According to IMDb, the title of the film comes from a Malcolm X quote which was, “You’ve got to do the right thing.”).

Everybody tries to keep cool, either by dunking one’s head in ice water, drinking cold beer, or opening a fire hydrant. The universality of these scenes is evident as it reminds me of how my family and neighbors kept cool in my old neighborhood when I was young. A white guy in a Cadillac convertible with the top down (see, white people like Cadillacs, too) stops, says his car is an “antique,” and tells one of the young men getting wet, whose name is Cee (a very young Martin Lawrence), to not splash his car. Cee tells him deceptively not to worry, as one of the residents says the white man has no business being there. Legally he does, but his wealth is an affront to the poverty of the area. As he passes, the young black men use hollowed out food cans to channel the water and drench the vehicle. The owner stops a police car and the man is arrogant toward the cops, who don’t have any suspects since they ran away. The police shut off the water (which they did in our neighborhood, too, to conserve the water). When the man first gets the attention of the police, the expectation is that the cops will start to bully the locals. But, the surprise is that they don’t want an escalation of tension at this time, and tell the guy to move on. Lee throws us off here, thinking that the cops will take the side of the white fellow. 

Although Sal has affection for Mookie, he has a business to run, and he does harass Mookie about the length of his delivery times, which, along with the treatment of Buggin Out, starts to grate on Mookie. He is accompanied by Vito to deliver food to Love Daddy. Mookie advises Vito that he has to fight back at how Pino constantly harasses and bosses Vito around. Mookie is telling Vito what the earlier song says about fighting the “powers that be,” and his urging foreshadows what is to come. 

Latino youths sit on a stoop and kid around with salsa music playing from their boombox. Raheem comes by still blasting “Fight the Power,” his anthem. The young men yell at him for drowning out their music, and what follows is a musical duel between the two stereos. Raheem wins as Stevie (Luis Antonio Ramos) says, “You got it, bro.” It is an interesting scene, since the Latino boys have a right to their cultural sounds, but they aim some ethnic slurring at Raheem, which shows how even those that are the victims of prejudice can be guilty of the same infringement. Is Raheem wrong to force his tune on these men even if the song has an inclusive message for the oppressed? The other young men don’t want any alliance and shout derisive comments at the exiting Raheem.

Even rivalry over sports figures exhibits racial conflict. Mookie says African American pitcher Dwight Gooden is the best baseball pitcher at that time, but Vito insists it’s the white Roger Clemens. But the relationship between these two is not personally adversarial, so that when Buggin Out asks Mookie whey he’s with the white guy, Mookie says that “Vito’s down.” (Authentic, poetic dialogue shines in this film, as Buggin Out, when asked by Mookie how he’s doing, says, “I’m just a struggling black man trying to keep my dick hard in a cruel and harsh world.” It is an affirmation of virility in the face of emasculation, but it also shows how Buggin Out does not know how to relax and enjoy himself since he is always looking for a fight. Another good use of dialogue is shown in the scene where Jade talks with Mother Sister as Jade styles the other’s hair. She asks Jade, who is pulling on her locks, if she is “tender-headed” like Mother Sister, who says it runs in her family.

The ethnic interaction that follows is heated between Buggin Out and Clifton (John Savage), a white young man on a bike who wears a Boston Celtics shirt with “Bird” written on it, referring to the Celtics white basketball player. Clifton bumps into Buggin Out and smears his new Air Jordan sneakers. Buggin Out fumes, especially in this heat, and chases after Clifton, demanding an apology. Other locals join Buggin Out as they yell at Clifton, who does not take the onslaught well, and doesn’t offer to replace the ruined footwear. Buggin Out wants to know why the white boy is in the black neighborhood. Clifton says he owns the house he stands in front of and says it’s a free country so he can live wherever he wants, which, again, is legally true. Buggin Out and the others make it clear he and his “gentrification” are not welcome. When they tell him to return to Massachusetts, Clifton says he’s from Brooklyn, and the others view his Celtics preference as a betrayal. The black response here is hostile, and similar to the one displayed toward the man in the Cadillac, which suggests they believe that white people shouldn’t venture into their neighborhood because African Americans have not been allowed the freedom to go and live wherever they want. 

Sal adds to the tension again when he criticizes Mookie’s work performance by saying that he should send Vito with him more often to shorten Mookie’s delivery time. Vito tries to stand up to Pino, who sees that it is Mookie who has urged him to defy his brother. Pino tells Vito his last name is not “Muhammed,” and makes it clear to Mookie that he should stay out of the family situation. All of these interchanges continue to build toward racial confrontation, which is emphasized by the next shot of cops arriving in the area. Officer Ponte (Miguel Sandoval) and Officer Long (Rick Aiello) slowly drive by the older black men as the two camps eye each other, the cops looking intimidating and the African American gentlemen exhibiting contempt and suspicion. One policeman and one of the black men say the same thing: “What a waste,” which shows the assessment of each side on the other’s occupants. (The men sit in front of a red brick wall, the vivid color reflecting the hot temperature and the hostility of the characters. There is also a sign on the wall that reads, “No ball playing,” which symbolizes how the people here are placed under restrictive rules). 

One of the older men, ML, exhibits his own racism as he complains about the Koreans who have opened a successful food market in the black neighborhood. He echoes those before him in the story who don’t want the black neighborhood invaded by outsiders. But he undermines his own argument because he notes that the building the Koreans took over was boarded up for years until the newcomers dared to claim it. Would it have been better if it remained derelict? However, again, the implication is that African Americans in lower-class neighborhoods don't have the financial means to start a business. ML says he will be the first one to open a black store there. But he is old and his fellow companion, Sweet Dick Willie (Robin Harris), says ML is all talk, and Sweet Dick is willing to spend his money at the Korean store. He responds to the negative comments of Coconut Sid (Frankie Faison) that he just got “off the boat” not that long ago, reminding Sid that America is a country of immigrants. (The negativity of earlier arrivals to the United States toward more recent ones is similar to the illogical prejudice shown by Daniel Day Lewis’s character in The Gangs of New York). However, even Sweet Dick Willie shows his bigotry by calling the Korean man “Kung Fu,” which elicits a negative response from the market owner. More tension.

There is also generational confrontation when young black youths harass Da Mayor with their own form of disrespectful belligerence by asking why he should have his mayoral designation. He says they don’t know anything about him to judge his life. He informs them that he was so poor he couldn’t look his wife in the eye because he couldn’t feed their children. He says they don’t understand, “my pain, my hurt, my feelings.” But one of the young men, Ahmad (Steve White), isn’t buying the old man’s self-pity. He says he should have worked to feed his family but instead became a drunk. The youth says, “I respect those who respect themselves,” suggesting he does not concede admiration just because of age but instead argues one should take responsibility for one’s actions. Here, the film continues to show the many sides of arguments.

After Mookie talks on the phone with his girlfriend, Tina, Pino complains that he’s stopping customers from calling in orders. After Pino uses the “n” word, Mookie, instead of immediately lashing out, tries to diffuse Pino’s bigotry with reason. He gets Pino to admit his favorite basketball player is Magic Johnson, his favorite movie star is Eddie Murphy, and that he is a Prince fan. Pino says it’s different with famous people because they are “more than black.” Mookie says that Pino may secretly want to be black, that Pino’s curly hair is not typically Anglo-Saxon, and is “kinkier” than Mookie’s. Pino makes fun of African American leaders, which then causes an escalation of animosity as Mookie curses Pino and Italian Americans, like Frank Sinatra. The movie shows how animosity breeds animosity.

The movie then breaks the fourth wall as Mookie, Pino, and the Korean grocer spew racial slurs and stereotypes concerning blacks, Italian Americans, and Jews at the camera, and, supposedly, at the various ethnic members of the audience. The effect is disturbing, but is also done to reveal the bigotry that many feel but hide. Love Daddy, living up to his name, yells that everyone has to cool down (despite the literal and figurative heat) following the inflammatory rhetoric. (Later, the LOVE radio station DJ reads an epic catalog of black musicians that illustrates the contribution of performers of color to American culture, refuting the perception of those negative, reductive stereotypes).

After another disagreement about Sal not willing to pay Mookie before the end of the day, Mookie encounters Raheem, who has brass rings that spell out “LOVE” on the right hand and “HATE” on the left. He says he will tell the story of good and evil, as he looks right at the camera, and thus directly addresses the audience. (Of course, this is an homage to Robert Mitchum’s character in The Night of the Hunter, who had the words tattooed on his fingers). Raheem keeps his left hand in a fist and punches (like Perez over the opening credits) and says that hate killed Cain, which implies that negative emotion hurts other humans. He opens the fingers of the right hand in a show of peace because “these five fingers, they go straight to the soul of a man,” to steer it away from a person’s evil side. He says that life is a battle between the two emotions, and he shows his optimism by saying that love will win out. He then declares his love for Mookie. 

But the clash between the two forces will produce casualties before the war can be won. Raheem’s love for others is tested as he enters Sal’s while blasting his song. Sal wants the music to stop inside, but he doesn’t ask politely. He demands that Raheem shut it off, which Raheem reluctantly does. Instead of letting it go at that, Sal piles on how no music is allowed. Raheem, as Buggin Out before, is not happy about the amount of cheese on the pizza. Sal charges $2.00 for extra cheese on top of the sparsely sprinkled amount. It is a symbolic act of exploitation. 

Mookie goes home to take a shower, and his sister, Jade, validates Sal’s complaints about Mookie’s long breaks, although he sees his not adhering to a strict work schedule as a defiance of being treated like a slave. But Jade also accuses her brother of not meeting his “responsibilities,” so all the main characters here are flawed. There is no mention of their parents, and it appears that Jade has been the one taking care of Mookie. That fact points to Mookie’s immaturity, and perhaps why he may see Sal as a father figure.

Pino tells his father they should sell the restaurant and open a shop in their own neighborhood. Sal has been there for twenty-five years, and there are too many pizzerias where they live for him to start to compete for survival there. His argument may be capitalistic, but he also wonders why his son has so much anger as Pino continues to use racial slurs. Pino’s response that all his friends make fun of him for feeding African Americans shows how racism perpetuates itself through peer pressure, which is then dispensed through the generations as a false belief of the inferiority of others. Sal’s comment is a wise one untarnished by bigotry when he says that if they were his true friends they wouldn’t ridicule Pino. He adds that he saw the kids there grow up on his food, so the suggestion is that he sees himself as a nurturing presence providing for his expanded family. He says Sal’s Pizzeria is “here to stay.” (It is an ironic statement considering what occurs later). Smiley walks by the outside of the restaurant trying to sell his photographs of the civil rights leaders. Sal is friendly, but Pino is deaf when it comes to his father’s words, and bangs on the store window, cursing and yelling at Smiley to go away. Smiley bangs back, and again we have anger displayed, with the glass storefront symbolic of the racial divide. Pino goes outside and continues to scream at Smiley, while Sal offers the now angry Smiley some money, which again stresses the difference, at least at this point, between father and son.

Buggin Out, still upset about the earlier verbal altercation with Sal, tries to recruit others in the neighborhood to boycott Sal’s. He has no support, since most of the residents echo Sal’s words that the people there like his shop and young folks grew up on his pizza. Buggin Out then throws down the gauntlet of anger in front of Sal, threatening the boycott. Sal is angry, but this time he restrains Pino because Sal is afraid his son will use more than words to fight back. Buggin Out sees Mookie and Jade, and tells her not to eat at Sal’s because of his photo policy. Mookie, despite his protestations about not wanting to be exploited and urging Vito to stand up for himself, is not willing to make trouble for fatherly Sal. Jade is intelligent, and criticizes Buggin Out, urging him to channel his energies toward constructive actions to improve the community. Despite the argument, their conversation concludes with them declaring love for each other, affirming at least in a small way Raheem’s prediction that love will win in the end.

There are close-ups of Sal and Mookie, which shows Sal’s annoyance about Mookie’s long absence. Mookie’s face shows seething, again reflecting the climate. When Jade enters the pizzeria, Sal’s attraction for Mookie’s sister is evident as he fawns over her, saying how he hoped she would be visiting soon, and wants to make something special for her to eat. When she asks how Mookie is doing, Sal says he’s a good guy as he tries to gain favor with her. Pino calls that a lie and a close-up of his face shows how his realization of Sal’s affection for Jade disgusts him.

Despite his message of love winning out, Raheem has the battle with hate inside himself. When his boombox’s batteries need replacements, he goes to the Korean store and is impatient with their lack of English skills. He curses them and tells them to learn English, not taking into account that all non-English speaking American ancestors that helped build the country had to struggle to learn a new language. Da Mayor enters the store to buy flowers from the Koreans to give to Mother Sister, who is still sitting at her open window. The location suggests a throne and she appears like a queen observing her kingdom. She offers no thanks and looks scornful at his gift and words. The intense heat does not melt her chilly demeanor. 

With his depiction of summer clothes, sweat, and the use of fans and showers, Lee makes the audience feel the scorching temperature. People seek out cold drinks, water ice, and ice cream. When one young boy, Eddie (Richard Habersham) runs after a Mr. Softie truck, Da Mayor rushes into the street and saves the youngster from getting hit by a car, which possibly shows him redeeming himself for his confessed inability to care for his own children. 

Sal is complimenting Jade’s eyes, sitting with her in her booth, when Mookie pulls her out and plays traditional big brother, saying he demands that she no longer come into the pizzeria anymore because of Sal’s lustful intentions. She again is the adult, and says she is a grown woman who can make her own decisions, and reminds him that her income is the one supporting him. Mookie initiates another of the movie’s confrontations as he tells Sal to stay away from Jade. Sal is incensed by Mookie’s warning, says he should kick his “ass,” but doesn’t act violently, and mitigates his anger by instead sending Mookie on another delivery. 

As the sun goes down, and things start to cool off a little, so does Mother Sister’s attitude toward Da Mayor. She says he was foolish running to save Eddie, but he was also brave. Never a person for brevity, Da Mayor goes on a bit about how he is old but summoned the speed without thinking, comparing himself to when he played baseball when he was young. He interrupts himself when he sees he should shut up. Mother Sister doesn’t want him to get any ideas about romance between the two of them, but she thanks him for his courage. Her face thaws a bit as she shows a tight smile as he walks away, but then she displays a sad look, as if revealing that she hasn’t experienced intimacy for a long time.

Mookie asked Sal if the address was right on the next delivery because it is where his girlfriend, Tina, lives. They kiss when he arrives, but she complains that she hasn't seen him in a week and Mookie knows that is why she ordered the pizza. He wants to have sex, but Tina says it’s too hot, plus he’ll just take off and she won’t see him for a while again. She is sarcastic about his neglect for their son, Hector, who is in the kitchen with Tina’s mother, which reminds us of what Jade was saying about how he needs to tend to his responsibilities. While Love Daddy is on the radio and continues to urge people to chill out, Mookie gets ice from the freezer and takes the DJ’s advice, rubbing cubes all over Tina’s naked body, as she warms to Mookie as he cools her down and tends to her needs. They joke as he gives thanks for the various parts of her body, and the affection between them is sweet.

When Mookie returns to the pizzeria, he and Sal are not so argumentative, and actually joke around a bit. Pino doesn’t like that Vito is so friendly with Mookie, and tells Vito there should be no personal connections between whites and blacks. Vito tries to resist Pino, saying that Mookie “listens” to him, whereas Pino doesn’t, and as we have seen Pino just passes off his chores onto his brother. Pino may feel threatened that Vito sees Mookie as more of a brother than he does Pino. On top of his father’s affection for Jade, Pino’s hostility may spring from his fear that he is losing his family to those he himself has been bullied into hating. 

Buggin Out continues to ask others to force Sal to honor African American celebrities by placing their photos on his wall. Raheem again shows his left-handed angry side and enlists, as does Smiley, spurred on by neighbors who don’t like Raheem’s constant loud playing of Public Enemy’s song (which even Buggin Out admits is too repetitive). Back at the restaurant, in what turns out to be an ironic statement, Sal says they had a “great, great day,” financially, and that there’s nothing like a family working together in a business. He says he will rename the place Sal and Sons Famous Pizzeria since the boys will eventually take it over. Pino’s look is one of disappointment considering how he has told his father about his hatred of the neighborhood. Sal even tells Mookie, “there will always be a place” for him there, going so far as to say that he considered Mookie to be like a son. That statement must really upset Pino. Of course Sal’s optimistic words contrast with the animosity between Pino and Vito, and Mookie’s look shows dread about having to continue to work there. 

Although there are some who are angry with Sal’s business practices, there are others that bang on the door wanting pizza even after the place closes. Sal opens the pizzeria up for a few slices for the kids who “love” his pizza. But that “love” turns quickly to “hate” as Buggin Out arrives with Raheem and his deafening boombox. Buggin Out shouts that they want African American pictures on the wall. Sal is racist when he yells he wants them to turn off that “jungle music.” He screams as he tells them to leave. Of course racism leads to racism, as Buggin Out now uses Italian slurs. The three young men and one young girl who came in for pizza act as a Greek chorus, as they alternately echo both sides of the fight. When Buggin Out threatens to shut down the place, Sal gets his baseball bat and uses the “n” word. When things are going his way he is friendly and paternal. But there is a condescension there, and bigotry under the surface when he is resisted. Mookie is caught in the middle as he tries to diffuse the anger, and he is torn apart as he is pulled to both sides. Sal smashes the boombox, symbolically representing the “powers that be” in the song as he attempts to silence any resistance to his rule. Sal says, “I killed your radio.” It is an interesting choice of words. He doesn’t say he broke or destroyed the boombox. The “killed” word makes it sound like murdering a human being, and the fact that Raheem is known as “Radio,” suggests that there is the death of a person involved. 

The heat and tensions of the day boil over as Raheem grabs Sal and then a brawl breaks out between Sal and his boys and the black youths. The fighting spills into the street as Raheem begins to choke Sal. Da Mayor arrives trying to stop the fighting because he knows that once the police get involved the danger will increase. Sure enough, Officers Ponte and Long drive up. They get Raheem off of Sal. That would be enough, and they would have done their job. But they only handcuff Raheem, the black man, and Long places his nightstick under Raheem’s throat and squeezes from the behind. The crowd warns that they are killing Raheem. Long keeps applying the pressure until Raheem can’t breathe and he dies. (Of course the parallels to George Floyd and other African American men being killed by policemen make the film relevant today). The police try to cover it up, dragging Raheem’s body into the police car and then driving away. Even the Korean grocery store owner bangs on the cop car because he sees how injustice threatens everyone. The other cops on the scene handcuff Buggin Out and take him away, but his shout of “You can’t kill us all!” is like a rallying cry for others to fight injustice.

Smiley cries out loud as he expresses the sorrowful pain of the neighborhood. The disparate voices of the day turn into a united expression against the violence that blacks experience at the hands of the authorities. Mookie stands in front of the pizzeria with Sal and his boys, who were not even questioned or considered as participating in the conflict. He looks at the black faces of his neighbors. He walks away as the black men of the area shout and appear to be ready to attack Sal and his boys. Da Mayor again tries to thwart any further violence by saying Sal didn’t kill Raheem and he most likely realizes the residents may suffer the consequences from the police if anyone is harmed. Mookie grabs a trash can (symbolic of the decay of the hope for equality and justice?) and hurls it at the restaurant, breaking the store window, as he yells, “hate.” He may be expressing his hatred for what has happened, or he could be fighting back at the hate that racism creates. Mookie is also making his own declaration of independence, breaking away from his reliance on a man who was not the right father figure for him.

The other black men rush the pizzeria and destroy the place, while also taking some money from the cash register. The similarity to what is happening now in America is obvious, with the destruction an immediate response by the poor people to the brutality they have witnessed. Smiley sets fire to the joint, and even Mother Sister yells out for the pizzeria to burn, as if labeling the restaurant as a place of racial intolerance. Da Mayor ushers Sal and his sons away to protect them, as Sal looks at his legacy going up in flames. In a strange way, Mookie channeled the neighborhood’s aggression toward a building so that people were spared from getting hurt. When the three older black men start to lead the crowd toward the Korean market, the owner says he is also “black,” not in color, but because he, too, is the target of racism. Sweet Dick Willie gets what the man is saying and calls off any further assaults.

The police and firemen arrive, and the latter use their hoses to extinguish the fire in the building and metaphorically the heat coming from the residents at the end of a sizzling day. Mookie and Jade sit on a street curb as the chaos swirls around them, like they are in the eye of a hurricane. As Da Mayor goes to hold her, Mother Sister keeps shouting in agony, “No!” which could be a plea that all of the hatred should stop. Smiley goes into the smoldering pizzeria and places the picture of Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X on the wall to finally honor the two slain civil rights leaders. With this act, Smiley finally lives up to his name.

The next day Love Daddy, in the studio behind the radio station’s LOVE sign (countering the prior evening’s hate display), asks the unanswerable question about when will people be able to live together? The forecast again is “hot,” which makes one wonder if anything will change. Mookie did go back to be with Tina and his son, showing he is trying to grow up and meet responsibilities. He leaves to demand his wages from Sal despite what has happened. Da Mayor stayed at Mother Sister’s place, but she said she couldn’t sleep. He asks if the neighborhood is still standing, but she realizes something more important, and says, “We’re still standing,” which means they are survivors and ready to put themselves in harm’s way again if need be to continue the struggle against the enemy.

Ironically wearing a Sal’s pizzeria shirt, Mookie heads toward the destroyed restaurant where Sal sits dejected at the entrance. Mookie wants his pay for the last week, and Sal rightly says that his wages wouldn’t even cover the cost of the window he broke. Mookie says Sal will get insurance money. Sal yells that he built the place himself and mourns its loss, suggesting it was like his own child. Sal throws five one-hundred-dollar bills at Mookie who throws two back and says he owes Sal fifty dollars. Mookie doesn’t want a handout, only what he earned. Sal is subdued now and asks what Mookie will do. He quietly says he has to go back to be with his son. Is Mookie going to start to live up to his parental duties? Perhaps he had to go through a painful rebirth to leave his pseudo father so he could be with his real family.

The story ends the way it began with Love Daddy talking like a DJ god, providing the big picture. He says that the Mayor of New York will investigate the prior night’s events, but insists that the city “will not let property be destroyed by anyone.” Love Daddy urges everyone to vote, suggesting a peaceful alternative to voice the protest against injustice. He says, “The election is coming up. There’s no end in sight from this heat wave.” Seeing this movie now, one just has to look at the news and see parts of the film playing out on the TV.

The film concludes with quotes from Martin Luther King, Jr. and Malcolm X. King’s words deplore any violence which humiliates another instead of convincing the opponent of the error of his ways, turning a “Dialogue into a monologue.” Malcolm X’s quote accepts that some people are just bad, and using violence for self-defense is just using one’s “intelligence.” The last image is the picture of the two men together on the “wall of fame,” The movie implies that they tried to bring justice to their people, but used different tools. What is the right thing to do? The movie suggests we should know what’s right, but how to act depends on what is happening.

The next film is Silkwood.