Quotes point to depth of Spike Lee masterpiece

First, a reader e-mail, then some film notes:

• Dear Dann: In your Oct. 4 story about Roger Ebert being honored at the Chicago International Film Festival, you referred to quotes from "Do the Right Thing." You didn't say what those quotes were and I wonder if you could send them to me. -- Joanne Kapps

Dear Joanne: Ebert referred to two quotes that Spike Lee placed at the end of his 1989 racial drama masterpiece "Do the Right Thing," which Ebert first saw at the Cannes Film Festival in France. Ebert said the quotes were so powerful, he cried.

The first came from the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, who said: "Violence as a way of achieving racial justice is both impractical and immoral. It is impractical because it is a descending spiral ending in destruction of all. The law of an eye for an eye leaves everyone blind. It is immoral because it seeks to annihilate the opponent rather than win his understanding; it seeks to annihilate rather than to convert.

"Violence is immoral because it thrives on hatred rather than love. It destroys community and makes brotherhood impossible. It leaves society in monologue rather than dialogue. Violence ends by defeating itself. It creates bitterness in the survivors and brutality in the destroyers."

The second quote came from Malcolm X, who said: "I think there are plenty of good people in America, but there are also plenty of bad people in America, and the bad ones are the ones who seem to have all the power and be in these positions to block things that you and I need.

"Because this is the situation, you and I have to preserve the right to do what is necessary to bring an end to that situation, and it doesn't mean that I advocate violence, but at the same time I am not against using violence in self-defense. I don't even call it violence when it's self-defense. I call it intelligence."

When I interviewed Lee on Fox News in 1989, he told me that some jurors at the Cannes Film Festival hated his movie and charged that it would incite race riots if released in the United States. (It was and it didn't.)

Some critics argued Lee preferred Malcolm X's quote because it comes at the very end and it's the last thought expressed. I argued that every white racist in America would wholeheartedly agree with the Malcolm X quote -- had it been attributed to John Wayne.

• The Chicago International Children's Film Festival cranks up for its 24th event Thursday through Oct. 28 at Facets Multimedia, 1517 W. Fullerton Ave.; the Davis Theater, 4614 N. Lincoln Ave.; and the Harold Washington Cultural Center, 4701 S. Martin Luther King Drive. The fest includes scary movies for the Halloween weekend along with animated films and at least five U.S. features. Go to www.cicff.org for schedules and tickets.

• TheChicago Festival of Israeli Cinema opens Thursday and runs through Oct. 28. Movie admission costs $10 at two venues: Pipers Alley Theaters, 1608 N. Wells St. (Oct. 18-21) and the Wilmette Theatre, 1122 Central Ave. (Oct. 22-28). For a schedule and tickets, go to www.chicagofestivalofisraelicinema.org or call (847) 675-3378.