"Left hand Hate K.O.ed by Love..."

Radio Raheem. Undoubtably my favorite character from the entire film. From the moment he was introduced, I was all about Radio Raheem. Maybe it was the Public Enemy that did it for me, maybe it was the way that Radio seemed to command the neighborhood without saying a single word, maybe it was the fact that he looks remarkably like a friend of mine who goes to Kennedy, but it was something.

When Klob first mentioned how people didn't feel affected by Radio Raheem's death, I was extremely confused. Apparently most people who watch the film don't feel the same way that I do about Radio. First off, I find him likable. I can understand how people would just write him off as a hoodlum, but I don't see it that way. He's just a kid who wants to do his own thing without anyone getting in the way. To me, he seems like a pretty decent guy. The part where I most bonded with Radio Raheem's character was during his Love/Hate monologue. It was an absolutely amazing speech. I never expected such eloquent speech from a character who said almost nothing. The way he described the fight between love and hate was nearly spellbinding.

So when Radio Raheem was murdered, I felt it. To me, it was as if Mookie or Da Mayor had been murdered. To watch my favorite character's murder was even physically impactful for me. In my naivete, I thought that everyone else must have felt the same as I did, felt the same sympathy for Radio Raheem and his untimely demise. But as we began to discuss the film, I saw that this was not the case. People didn't seem to be affected by the death hardly at all. People saw the murder as another loss of life. But it was so much more than just a loss of life. It was murder. It was a life that is no longer continuing. It was a best friend, a son just gone. Radio Raheem's murder cannot just be overlooked or brushed away.

Maybe I'm a little crazy about this, but that's fine by me. In Spike Lee's commentary, he mentioned how often Radio Raheem's death was written off or not mentioned at all. I felt like he was coming from the same place that I am. But even in class, we talked about what exactly Lee did that made us feel less sympathy for Radio Raheem. I'm beginning to babble because I'm tired and I can't make my words express my thoughts well enough to be eloquent anymore. My point is that, even though some people say that the film-viewers were set up to not feel much compassion for Radio Raheem, I didn't see it that way. He was my favorite character and his death (not just his death, his murder) will stick unpleasantly in my mind for quite some time.