Anatomy of a scene is a column created by the New York Times where directors voice over/discuss a scene of theirs breaking it down piece by piece. This is especially interesting here because Spike Lee on the 30th anniversary of this movie, decides to break down the climax of the movie: the fight in Sal’s Pizzeria and Radio Raheem’s death.

All “Anatomy of a Scene” videos are incredibly interesting, not only because directors provide insight into some aspect of the film but because the director is free to talk about whatever they want, not just the process of creating the film. Before getting into any film aspects/cinematic techniques used in the scene Lee addresses that this death scene was actually based off of the real life death of Michael Stewart, a graffiti artist. In 1983, Stewart was killed and strangled by 11 NYC transit police. Lee then continues to draw parallels between the deaths back then and more recent one’s such as Eric Garner. He then begins to provide insight into the way certain elements of the film were made, beginning with the heat. He talks about heat contributing to the tension in addition to the struggles they encountered when filming the fight. One detail I found interesting was that the actor who played Sal, his stunt double was his kid and there was no experienced stunt coordinator on sight according to Lee. However, to me the most interesting comment by Lee was talking about the placement of the camera after they release him from the chokehold. Throughout the film I noticed that Lee uses many canted angles and here this remains true but Lee points out the positioning of the camera which made Raheem fall into the camera lens.
One thing that Lee touches on very briefly in this video is the cultural significance of this movie to NYC but more importantly to Bed-Stuy. Being from New York, Spike Lee in my head has always been one of the most New York people. He does the intro at Yankee stadium and he’s court-side at every Knicks and Liberty game. But what he mentioned here was that this two block radius in Bed-Stuy was renamed, “Do the Right Thing Way” the only street in New York to be renamed after a film.

I found this fact especially interesting because of how many things have been shot in New York. This proved the cultural impact that this movie has had and with Lee connecting Radio Raheem’s death to many police brutality instances today, the movie, proved by Lee’s analysis, has clearly maintained its relevancy.