Jungle Fever
Written while attending Louisiana State University and published in the Plaquemine Post South in 1991.
BY: DAVID B. GOURGUES
Spike Lee's latest film, Jungle Fever, is not on par with his 1989 masterpiece Do The Right Thing. But then again, I think Do The Right Thing is one of the top ten movies of the 1980's, so how could I expect Jungle Fever to top it? I couldn't. What I could expect though, was supreme story-telling and movie-making. Lee makes movies the way they should be made: to provoke questions and doubts in the audience's minds. Very few filmmakers take this approach in their work today, so Lee must be commended for such efforts.
Lee's latest artistic venture, Jungle Fever, concerns itself with an interracial relationship and the effects it can have on those involved, as well as society's reaction to it. Wesley Snipes plays Flipper, a black architect from Harlem working in an all- white Manhattan firm. Annabella Sciorra plays Angie, his newly appointed white secretary from Bensonhurst. Flipper is married, has a beautiful daughter and a successful job. Angie is Italian and very dedicated. She cooks dinner for her two brothers and father each night when she returns home from the 45 minute subway ride from Manhattan. After Flipper confronts his bosses as to why they didn't hire an Afro-American secretary like he requested, he finds himself becoming attracted to Angie. Angie, in turn, is becoming attracted to Flipper. But even though they think they love each other and even say they love each other, I thought they were more curious about each other's race than anything. This was probably Lee's main fault in the movie. The story would have been extremely better if he would have made it more of a love story and not a lesson in curiosity. But perhaps he intended it to be this way.
At first it seems that Flipper and Angie are going to try to work things out. After they both overcome the humiliation of being cast out of their homes, they move in together. But things only get worst. Upon their arrival home one night, the two get into a playful fight with each other. A neighbor sees what is happening and calls the police, all because it is at night and a black man is tussling with a white woman. No matter how we look at it, Lee is right. This is probably what would have happened. And this, among other things, is what breaks the last straw between the two lovers.
Jungle Fever contains some sub-plots that probably weren't necessary. Flipper's brother is portrayed as a drug addict, probably in answer to the criticism that Lee has received for not including drug issues in his films. There is also a local convenient store in Bensonhurst run by Angie's ex-boyfriend. There are many heated discussions that go on here about the events in the movie, but the store doesn't meet the characteristics of Sal's Pizzeria in Do The Right Thing.
The movie is also filled with some pulsating music from Stevie Wonder. It is Wonder's best work in years. Lee, as always, is a master with the camera. The opening scenes of New York's Harlem and Bensonhurst are superior filmmaking.
Spike Lee is one of the best directors alive today. He uses the camera to his full advantage in a way that it resembles director Martin Scorsese. He is honest and tackles subjects that most filmmakers cringe at just the mention of. Jungle Fever doesn't tell the audience how to think about its subject and it doesn't tell the audience how to feel about its characters. What it does do is allow the audience to feel and think anything it chooses to from what is seen on the screen. Spike Lee has done a lot for his race. But that is where people perceive him wrongly. Lee has done a great deal for all people, white, black, Hispanic, etc... He is not a great black filmmaker. He is a great filmmaker.
Jungle Fever is a movie everyone should see. Don't miss it!
My Rating: A