More than 30 years after his breakthrough film Do The Right Thing was released in 1989, Spike Lee has released a new short film in the wake of George Floyd’s death.
Lee appeared on Sunday night’s CNN special I Can’t Breath: Black Men Living and Dying In America, anchored by Don Lemon, where he debuted the short film 3 Brothers.
The 63-year-old filmmaker then debuted the short film on his Twitter page, which is comprised of footage of the 2014 death of Eric Garner in New York City, last week’s death of George Floyd in Minneapolis and the death of Radio Raheem (Bill Nunn) as portrayed in Lee’s groundbreaking 1989 film Do The Right Thing.
The short film opens with a question – ‘Will History Stop Repeating Itself?’ – before showing footage of Garner telling police officers ‘Please just leave me alone.’
NYPD officer Daniel Pantaleo is then seen approaching Garner from behind and putting him into a choke hold.
The film then cuts to a scene from Do The Right Thing, where Radio Raheem gets into a fight at Sal’s Pizzeria that spills out into the street.
Garner: The short film opens with a question – ‘Will History Stop Repeating Itself?’ – before showing footage of Garner telling police officers ‘Please just leave me alone’
Fight: The film then cuts to a scene from Do The Right Thing, where Radio Raheem gets into a fight at Sal’s Pizzeria that spills out into the street
The footage cuts back to more officers arriving to subdue Garner and a strikingly similar scene in Do The Right Thing where white cops are strangling Radio Raheem with a billy club.
Raheem tells the cops to ‘get the f**k off me’ while being choked while Garner is heard saying, ‘I can’t breathe,’ which became the rallying cry for the Black Lives Matter movement.
Raheem is seen struggling for air in another shot, before cutting to another shot of Garner saying, ‘I can’t breathe’ and then to Floyd, who says ‘I can’t breathe’ while Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin has his knee pressed against Floyd’s neck.
Similar: The footage cuts back to more officers arriving to subdue Garner and a strikingly similar scene in Do The Right Thing where white cops are strangling Radio Raheem with a billy club
Can’t breathe: Raheem is seen struggling for air in another shot, before cutting to another shot of Garner saying, ‘I can’t breathe’ and then to Floyd, who says ‘I can’t breathe’ while Minneapolis police officer Derek Chauvin has his knee pressed against Floyd’s neck
The short cuts again to Raheem struggling to breathe against the force of the billy club choke hold before a shot of Floyd is seen where he says, ‘Mama’ while an officer tells him to, ‘Get up and get in the car right.’
While another officer tells the man holding the camera (who, according to the Minneapolis Star-Tribune is Tou Thao) to get back on the steps, others in the crowd are telling Chauvin to ‘get off him.’
The short then shows Radio Raheem taking his last breath, before cutting to a shot of Garner as a bystander says, ‘All he did was break up a fight.’
Struggling: The short cuts again to Raheem struggling to breathe against the force of the billy club choke hold before a shot of Floyd is seen where he says, ‘Mama’ while an officer tells him to, ‘Get up and get in the car right’
More shots of Raheem’s final moments are shown along with Chauvin continuing to press all of his weight on Floyd’s neck as someone is heard saying, ‘You’re stopping his breathing right there’ and Floyd is faintly heard saying, ‘I can’t breathe.’
Radio Raheem is seen collapsing dead to the ground, cut together with shots of officers are then seen checking on the unconscious Floyd and Garner.
The final shots show Radio Raheem’s dead body being hauled away by cops, while Floyd is being put on a stretcher while another cop aggressively tells bystanders to get back as bystanders say, ‘You really just killed that man’ as the short comes to an end.
Breathe: More shots of Raheem’s final moments are shown along with Chauvin continuing to press all of his weight on Floyd’s neck as someone is heard saying, ‘You’re stopping his breathing right there’ and Floyd is faintly heard saying, ‘I can’t breathe’
Final shots: The final shots show Radio Raheem’s dead body being hauled away by cops, while Floyd is being put on a stretcher while another cop aggressively tells bystanders to get back as bystanders say, ‘You really just killed that man’ as the short comes to an end
During the CNN special, Lee wondered how people are reacting the way they are.
‘This is history again, and again and again. This is not new,’ Lee began, while wearing a 49ers hat and a t-shirt that read 1619, the year seen by most as the start of slavery in America.
‘The attack on black bodies has been here from the get-go. I am not condoning all this other stuff but I understand why people are doing what they are doing,’ Lee added.
History: ‘This is history again, and again and again. This is not new,’ Lee began, while wearing a 49ers hat and a t-shirt that read 1619, the year seen by most as the start of slavery in America
Source: Daily Mail – CNN News
