Played by Bill Nunn | Movie Do the Right Thing | |
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Similar Mister Señor Love Daddy, Robbie Robertson, Sweet Dick Willie, Mars Blackmon, Harry Powell | ||
Radio Raheem is a fictional character in the 1989 film Do the Right Thing produced, written and directed by Spike Lee. The character is played by Bill Nunn. Radio Raheem's name is a reference to the signature boombox that he carries wherever he goes.
Contents
Radio Raheem's death in the film leads to the film's climax in which tensions between the Brooklyn neighborhood's local black community and the Italian owners of a local pizzeria reaches a peak.
Plot role
In Do the Right Thing, Radio Raheem is among the wide range of unique characters that make up the unique Brooklyn neighborhood. Radio Raheem brings his boombox everywhere he goes, playing the song "Fight the Power" by Public Enemy, which plays also in the film's opening scene.
The song's notable lyrics state
"Got to give us what we want
Got to give us what we need
Our freedom of speech is freedom of death
We got to fight the powers that be"
Radio Raheem is a quiet character through most of the film, but features key lines that inform major themes of the film. He lives in harmony with the other black locals of the neighborhood, but is at odds with other races in the community primarily due to his loud music.
When protagonist Mookie (played by Spike Lee) runs into Radio Raheeem during a pizza delivery, Raheem greets him warmly and explains to him the philosophy behind his "love" and "hate" four fingered ring worn on his right and left hand respectively. This concept is taken from the black and white 1955 film, Night of the Hunter, where the psychopathic preacher Powell has "LOVE" tattooed on the knuckles of one hand and "HATE" tattooed on the other. Similarly to the preacher in that film, he describes the story of life of how love and hate are constantly in opposition, but how love will win in the end. At the end of his speech he pauses and then says to Mookie, "I love you bro."
In response to Sal's restriction of music at his pizzeria, Radio Raheem decides to join Buggin' Out's initiative to boycott Sal's pizzeria. They enter the Pizzeria blasting the same song "Fight the Power", repeating the demand the Sal should put up black people on his Wall of Fame. In a fit of rage Sal destroys Radio Raheem's boom box with a bat, and calls him "nigger". Radio Raheem wrestles Sal to the ground, and the fight breaks out into the street. The police arrive and in effort to break up the fight, choke Radio Raheem to death.
Symbolism of Radio Raheem's character
Kulczycky comments on Spike Lee's use of direct address in Radio Raheem's solioquy on love and hate as a "break from realism", thus creating an "atypical effect". Kulczycky cites the influence of Jean-Luc Godard's film Weekend. Kulczycky describes Radio Raheem's direct address as having double effect of reminding viewers of the constructed nature of the film, but also "fueling their involvement with the film".
Lubiano comments on Radio Raheem's murder by the police as a cinematic cliché. Lubiano emphasizes on Spike Lee's particular representative selection of Radio Raheem as a victim of police violence, when he could have easily turned off his boombox to avert the tension.