Spike Lee Films

The three spike lee films ill be looking at in this essay is ' Do The Right Thing', 'Malcom X' and ' Inside man'.

1) Malcom X

Malcolm X is a 1992 film, directed by spike lee, exploring the life of the infamous black activist Malcolm X.Malcolm X follows the life of African American activist Malcolm X. Rising from a troubled childhood, in which his father, a preacher, is murdered by the Black Legion and his mother is institutionalized for insanity, Malcolm gets a job as a Pullman Porter, calling himself Detroit Red. After getting involved with a Harlem gangster named West Indian Archie with whom he has a falling out, Malcolm flees to Boston and decides to become a burglar. He and his best friend, Shorty (played by Spike Lee) are arrested by the police and Malcolm is sentenced to a ten-year prison term. In prison, a fellow inmate, Baines, introduces him to the teachings of Islam.

One of the main tropes of spike lee films is controversy. All of his films seem to deal with delicate issues, Malcom X being no exception. Spike Lee also stars in many of his earlier films. The difference with Spike Lee is that he always takes up a big part, being Shorty in Malcolm X.

In most of Spike's movies he often quotes a famous activist as a sign of respect to that person. In Malcolm X he plays homage to him by adding his quotes into the movie. In comparison to 'Do The Right Thing', Malcolm X also deals with controversy and delicate issues. Spike Lee also stars in ' Do The Right Thing'.

2) Inside man 
Inside man is a 2006 crime thriller film, directed by spike lee, in which we follow 2 DCI’s try to stop an alaborate bank heist over a 24 hour period.

I decided to watch this spike lee film because it is one of his newer ones and I think it is interesting to compare his style over the 2 periods.


The first major difference I noticed between Lee’s older and newer films is the fact he doesn’t star in them. Usually Lee will take a semi main role in his earlier movies but in inside man he doesn’t. 

Inside man also doesn’t deal with the same controversial issues as Lee’s earlier films. Inside man doesn’t deal with big issues to the extent Lee’s earlier films do. This might have something to do with the fact that Lee didn’t write the script but was just hired to direct. 


Although the messages of the film are different to his original films his cinematography is very similar. Lee likes to use natural and sometimes oddly simetrical shots in both his new and old films. He also plays with lighting in inside man in a very similar way to his older films. Lee likes to play with darkness in Malcolm X and Inside man.