new documentary is a great opportunity to review some of his most
notable career moments.
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 Shes Gotta Have It. His films are
groundbreaking in their controversial approach towards social and
political issues and offer 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 Shes 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. Shes 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 Noras life.
Shes 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 figures 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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