Love him or hate him, you can't argue that firebrand filmmaker Spike Lee singlehandedly reinvented mainstream black cinema with “Do the Right Thing” back in 1989. Nominated for two Oscars, the seminal hit focused on one Brooklyn neighborhood and the racial tensions simmering just below its surface.
Since, Lee has added noteworthy titles to his resume like his opus, “Malcolm X,” and “Inside Man,” but with movies like “Get on the Bus” and “4 Little Girls,” the Brooklyn filmmaker has shed light on the plight of African-Americans past and present.
His latest, “If God Is Willing and da Creek Don’t Rise,” airing in two parts on HBO Monday and Tuesday, serves as a sequel to his epic documentary, “When the Levees Broke,” also for HBO. It's a trenchant look at the BP oil spill in the Gulf and its devastating impact on the economy, wildlife and livelihood of a population still struggling in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
BP comes under a lot of fire in the film.
Very deservedly so. We got it in the ass.
Is there a danger of putting too much focus on one company, or is it the whole industry?
This is nothing like an aberration. They have a history of having that explosion in Texas City, Texas, where people died. I mean they’re so bad that other oil companies are distancing themselves away from BP. This is consistent with their operation. They have little or no regard for human life, and everything’s bottom-line profits.
Do you think that’s the exception or is it the rule?
Well, it’s becoming more of a rule. The almighty dollar.
It seems like it’s endemic. In the old days you made money by making a good product. Today, you make crap and you do it cheaply.
No, there’s something to that but here’s the thing; I think it comes down to the moral fiber of people, or the character of people. And I’m not espousing socialism or capitalism. I still think that you can make good money in this country, be a responsible citizen, a responsible corporation, without harming, raping people or raping the environment.
I mean, there are people in this world that just the thought of how that money was made, they don’t want nothing to do with it. It’s the term: There’s blood in that money. I think the same way -- if there’s blood in that money, I want nothing to do with it. But on the other hand they lay down at their knees at the altar of the almighty dollar and they don’t give a f---. They’ll put their own mother on the corner for a dollar bill.
It seems those are becoming the people that characterize this country.
And that’s not good for this country at all. I’m not shedding any tears for Tony Hayward or BP.
Was justice served with him being sent off to Siberia?
I’m not worried about him.
