Spike Lee defines "jungle fever" as sexual attraction between members of two races. In his film Jungle Fever, he examines the repercussions of an interracial affair upon two very distinct communities. Wesley Snipes is Flipper, a happily married and successful architect, and Annabella Sciorra is Angie, an office temp. When she starts working in Flipper's Manhattan office, one day they look at each other and are soon having sex over a blueprint-strewn desk. Their liaison causes an explosion on
both homefronts. Flipper's family consists of his father Doctor Purify (Ossie Davis), a former preacher; his mother Lucinda (Ruby Dee); his violent, crackhead brother Gator (Samuel L. Jackson); and his wife Drew (Lonette McKee), whom he loves, despite his sexual attraction to Angie. Angie's family is a typical Italian-American household from Bensonhurst. She's engaged to Paulie Carbonne (John Turturro), who works in a deli owned by his father Lou (Anthony Quinn). When the two families find out about Flipper and Angie's affair, their shock leads to recriminations and racial animosity. ~ Paul Brenner, Rovi
Lee tackles the subject of interracial romance from the unavoidable vantage point that, while things today are more open, they are also considerably more volatile and complex.
Lee brings a shotgun to a knife fight, but his visual energy is undeniably effective, spraying the screen with venom and appalling realities, with most of the feature locked in confessional mode.
Includes a number of memorable set pieces, most notably a visit to a crack den which, accompanied by the epic sound of Stevie Wonder's "Living In The City," is simply unforgettable.
Though Wesley Snipes and Annabella Sciorra perform well, the script provides no deeper motivations or meanings for their relationship. Situations around them prove more interesting and dynamic.
Spike Lee's blunt and flippant look at forbidden interracial romance set against an urban backdrop of ethnic cynicism. Nobody knows how to examine the hostility of race relations in the movies so effectively such as the brash Lee. Jungle Fever is confront
I'll admit to not realising racism was still so prominent in the 90's, but I didn't grow up in New York. Anyway, Snipes cheats on his wife with a white woman (technically she's Italian, there aren't actually any "white" people in this film), and the rest of the film is simply an exploration of peoples attitudes towards
mixed-dating. And it all goes over the top: instead of simply accepting that Snipes cheated because he felt an attraction, his wife reckons he cheated because of some hereditary nonsense. The camerawork is excellent as are Samuel L Jackson and John Turturro. The score is fucking terrible - I know Stevie Wonder is a talented musician but something went wrong. If they'd managed to chuck in a plot somewhere this could be really good. As it is, I spent most of the film recalling that bit in MP's Holy Grail where everyone shouts "Get on with it!"
Spike Lee is one of the greatest directors in cinema history.In this film he has painted an intricately woven tapestry of the overt and covert racism that continues to permeate American society. He is just 4 generations away from his personal connection to slavery-his grandmother's mother was born into it.
People
sometimes get exasperated with his passionate positions and choices in speaking his mind. It's this burning passion that has created such socially relevant films.
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