For decades,Spike Lee’s films have sparked hard-hitting conversations within established genres, subverting expectations. His upcoming crime thrillerHighest 2 Lowestcontinues that trend by adapting a classicAkira Kurosawafilm to reflect modern-day American themes of class and status. Such themes are not new territory for Lee, as he tackled them within the context of a romantic drama in 1991’sJungle Fever.
Capturing a snapshot of race relations in the early 1990s, Jungle Fever plays like a semi-continuation ofDo the Right Thing, expanding upon the dramatization of the cultural melting pot of New York City. Loosely inspired by the senseless death of Black teenagerYusef Hawkinsat the hands of Italian-American men under the impression he was dating a local white girl, Lee assembles another star-studded ensemble led byWesley Snipes,Annabella Sciorra,John Turturro, and breakout performances forSamuel L. JacksonandHalle Berry. WithErnest Dickersononce again providing Lee’s visual hallmarks andStevie Wonderdriving the musical score alongsideTerence Blanchard,Jungle Feveris Lee’s most confident movie at this point in his career.
What Is ‘Jungle Fever’ About?
Jungle Fever’s narrative is split between the lives of successful Harlem-based architect and family man Flipper Purify (Snipes) and his new secretary, Brooklyn-based Angie Tucci (Sciorra). Initially at odds with one another, their late nights on the job result in a sexually charged office affair kept secret from Flipper’s wife, Drew (Lonette McKee), and Angie’s fiancé, Paulie (Turturro).The only people in their lives aware of their relationshipinclude Angie’s girlfriends in Bensonhurst and Flipper’s best friend Cyrus (Lee), who views the matter as“jungle fever," meaning it’s more about physical attraction than the heart.
It’s not long before Flipper and Angie’s affair remains a secret. Once the word gets out, Drew kicks Flipper out of their home, forcing him to live with his religiously strict parents (Ossie DavisandRuby Dee), while Angie gets physically assaulted by her father (Frank Vincent) upon breaking up with Paulie. As Flipper and Angie struggle to understand how the nature of their relationship is causing turmoil in their personal lives, the architect’s family has to contend with the constant presence of hiscrack-addicted brother Gator(Jackson).
Spike Lee Peels Away Raw Truths About Race and Class in ‘Jungle Fever’
WhereDo the Right Thingdealt with a neighborhood clash based on a changing cultural landscape in the late ‘80s,Jungle Feverexamined the repercussions of families and communities torn apart by interracial romance. The office affair between Flipper and Angie appears ripe for a tale about love crossing all boundaries and ultimately ruling the day. That’s not so much the case inSpike Lee’s universe. There’s no clichéd subplot of Flipper trying to win over Angie’s father or anything similar. What you get is the exact opposite:the relationship causes alienation from virtually everyone around them,including divisions within their families. In one ofJungle Fever’s most shocking moments, Flipper’s reverend father denounces Angie’s race during a dinner meeting speech about Black men’s blood being unpurified by white women while Flipper’s mother cheers him on in the kitchen.
Each of Lee’s earlier efforts aimed to peel away the raw truths about being Black in America and accomplished that by bringing audiences to his neighborhood (She’s Gotta Have It,Do the Right Thing) and his alma mater (School Daze). By the timeJungle Feverarrived in theaters,Lee was allowing the audience to take part in the greater social gatherings to have very uncomfortable, but necessary, discussions about race. Drew leaving Flipper over the affair leads to a standout sequence of the disappointed wife’s Black female friends gathering together to vent their frustration about Black men “betraying” and downgrading them due to the perception of status and beauty among white women. It’s a powerful moment where the story comes to a screeching halt and brings the audience to a place of self-reflection about their own biases with regard to race and romance.
‘Highest 2 Lowest’ Review: Denzel Washington and Spike Lee Take on Kurosawa in Vibrant Crime Drama
“All money ain’t good money.”
Samuel L. Jackson’s Cannes Film Festival-winning performanceas Cyrus overshadows Snipes’ role as Flipper because of the authentic realism he brought to the film. But he was only one element of a larger tale. For as much as the interracial romance is the driving force of the story,Jungle Feveralso tackles the class division issue within the Black community through Snipes and Jackson’s characters. In many ways, Snipes’ Flipper has status in his architect business but still faces institutional racism, and the relationship with Angie leads to his eventual downfall. Jackson’s Flipper, however, represents those in the Black community discarded by his people, including his family, due to his crack addiction. Lee shows that on both sides of the spectrum between poverty and wealth,the color of one’s skin never changes.
Jungle Fever
