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Summer
of Sam (1999) |
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An odd looking bumpkin soldier had just begun the longest 90 day reign in history while the worlds oil prices soared ever higher. Virginia Wade won Wimbledon in front of the Queen in the centenary year and England's cricketer's took the Ashes. Punk arrived, Elvis died and Donna Summer rode the disco explosion with the pulsating "I Feel Love". Across the pond in New York City, during a hellishly hot summer, Reggie Jackson's heroics propelled the Yankee's towards another coveted World Series . 1977 was also the pre-AIDS period where the sexual revolution of the 60's reached it's peak and drug taking reached gargantuan levels, then, as the Big Apple sweltered and the city's electricity supply strained under extreme pressure there was an explosion of a a very different kind….. The "Son of Sam's" reign of terror was about to begin. The city's relative calm was shattered as a psychotic madman ravaged the streets of Brooklyn randomly murdering innocent young couples and young women with his .44. Brooklyn, New York will look back at that long hot summer of '77 as the summer of Reggie Jackson who wore number 44 for the Yankee's, the year the lights went out, and perhaps most of all as the "Summer of Sam". A summer when a maniac, David Berkowitz, snapped and vented his hatred of the world with a series of brutal, cold blooded slayings. Director Spike Lee's latest feature veers away from his usual look at Afro-American society and shifts his focus upon a tightly knit Italian American community located bang in the middle of "Sam" territory. The film isn't really about the crimes that Berkowitz committed but more about how it effected this community and how from amidst the crisis, a hideous mob mentality emerges. Mobs, blind by nature basically just need a scapegoat at which to direct their misguided fury. In this community too, suspicion, gossip and innuendo thrive like wildfire leading to tragic results. Lee's focus is on the failing marriage of a typical Italian stud of a husband Vinny (John Leguizamo) who suffers from the usual problem that most men of the community seem to suffer; excessive levels of testosterone and an uncontrollable sense of machismo. His predicament leaves his sense of judgment serioulsy impaired and he is unable to appreciate anything about his marriage. There is Richie, an Italian kid from Brooklyn with a major identity crisis that leaves him with a haircut like Sid Vicious and a pseudo English accent to boot. Richie eventually becomes the target of the demented mob fury simply because he chooses to be different. Lee's film is a potent reminder as to how society tends to pick on those who are in minority, those who are different and those who are weaker because they are not part of a mass, because they don't conform to "expectations". It is a significant critique on how small minded and petty we can be and how important it is for people to pick differences amongst each other. How man tries to make himself feel superior by putting down the weak or the different. The acting in "Summer of Sam" is of a superior quality all around with Jennifer Esposito and Mira Sorvino outstanding and Leguizamo doing a decent job in the central role of Vinny. Bebe Neuwirth is as fascinating as ever and veteran Ben Gazzara impresses as the local Kingpin. Spike Lee's movies may not be amassing Titanic-like fortunes for the man, but they are more often then not excellent reflections of society's values within a certain era and within a certain community. Years from now, Lee's films will be far more relevant then most of our Titanic's and Armageddon's.
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