Spike Lee is one of the most influential and provocative
American moviemakers. Recently, he celebrated the 20-year anniversary for the
release of his remarkable debut film She’s Gotta Have It. His films are ground-breaking
in their controversial approach towards social and political issues and offer a different perspective on race, class and gender issues in contemporary America.
Spike Lee was born as Shelton Jackson Lee in 1957 in
Atlanta, Georgia to a jazz musician and an art teacher. When Lee was a young child,
the family relocated to Brooklyn, which was used as a background for many of
Spike Lee's movies. Lee's talent was recognized while he was still a film
student in NYU. His thesis film Joes Bed Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads won 1983
Student Academy Award for best director.
Spike Lee's debut movie She’s Gotta Have It was released in
1986. The movie was shot in 12 days in a budget of 175,000 dollars. The film
was written, produced and directed by Spike Lee. She’s Gotta Have It tells the
story of Nora Darling, a young, independent African American graphic designer who
cannot commit to any of her three lovers. Tracy Camilla Jones played the role
of Nora Darling. Tommy Redmond Hicks and John Canada Terrell along with Lee
himself played the three men in Nora’s life.
She’s Gotta Have It was a landmark film in its presentation
of African American characters in an American movie and part of the explosion
of 80s independent movie industry. The African American community embraced the
movie, which displayed a non-stereotypical group of young, intelligent black
American people. The film won the Prix de Jeuness at the Cannes film festival
for the best new film by a newcomer.
The 1992 biographic epic Malcolm X is considered by many as
Lee's best film. The 195 minutes movie depicts the story of the African
American activist Malcolm X, from his early childhood to his assassination. Lee
uses the Malcolm X story to confront the audience with the racial
discrimination and violence that black people went through during the 1950s and
1960s in America.
Spike Lee's name was associated with many controversies. He
was often accused of anti-Semitism and racism for portraying Jews and Italians
in his films a stereotypical manner. His 2001 television miniseries about one
of the Black Panthers founders, Huey P. Newton stirred another controversy,
which helped establish Lee's image as a provocative and radical figure in the
American film industry.
Lee's latest project is the documentary When the Levees
Broke: A Requiem in Four Acts, which tells the story of New Orleans post and
pre-hurricane Katrina. The four hours
documentary is about the New Orleans culture, the damage caused by hurricane
Katrina and the recovery efforts. Lee does not spare his critic on the
government inadequate reaction to the destruction.
5 Top Movies Directed by Spike Lee
Do The Right Thing: this 1989 comic drama shows what happens
in Brookline when the interracial tension heats up during the hottest day of
the year. Starring: Spike Lee, Danny Aiello, John Turturro
Mo Better Blues: Denzel Washington as a jazz trumpeter who
makes all the wrong decisions regarding his musical career and relationships.
Jungle Fever tells a pessimistic interracial love story
between an African American man and an Italian American woman.
Girl 6 looks at the life of a young black actress who
prefers working as a phone girl than being abused by movie directors
25th Hour is dedicated to the last 24 hours in the life of a
New York drug dealer before his jail term begins.
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