Jungle Fever

Spike Lee, USA, 1991, 132 minutes

Ever since "Romeo and Juliet" people have been fascinated by love that crosses cultural barriers. Romeo and Juliet a la Spike Lee is the story of Flipper, a middle-class black architect from Harlem and Angie, a working-class Italian-American from Brooklyn. The story line is simple enough: Angie is assigned to Flipper as a temporary secretary. After Flipper's initial hostility, he breaks down his prejudices enough to share a few Chinese takeaways working late in the office, and have sex (that lasts all of ten seconds) on the drawing board. He's thrown unceremoniously out by his angry wife, she is literally kicked out by her violent father. For seemingly no other reason than they both happen to find themselves homeless, they move in together and are left to face up to the reality of a mixed-race relationship.

Spike Lee is unequivocal on the subject: love between blacks and whites cannot survive. Undoubtedly he would have also received criticism for taking the opposite view, but the way he has set up this relationship, it is doomed to failure. Firstly, both characters are betraying their ptrtners for something that seems to be based on little more than a passing sexual attraction; when Flipper is upset by police racism, it comes as no surprise to see Angie have no words or affection to comfort him because thcre is no emotional closeness between them. Or maybe she's coming to realise that one racial group can never understand the problems of another. Not very optimistic for the chances of worldwide peace and harmony between races.

Ironically, this central theme is not half as interesting as the others the film explores by way of background: the position of middle-class blacks in American society; the working-class Italian family; prejudices associated with different skin-shades (the ad-libbed scene in which the black women discuss this is arguably the best in the film); and, most importantly, the enormous divide which exists between black and white in New York. Depressing, but unfortunately very realistic.

Review by Gavin Inglis
Taken from EUFS Programme 1992-93