When you consider how many films about race relations are out there two directors come to mind, Spike Lee and John Singleton. The first is renowned for his creative, confrontational and challenging work on addressing the topic of race in America, the second has a subtler approach that shows a maturity and a pennant for classic film making. For this reason in my personal opinion Spike Lee has, with question, the greatest race relation films of all time, with respect to speaking about race in America concerning the African-American experience. Other films worth looking at are John Singleton’s Boyz in Da Hood and Baby Boy, these films touch on racism but aren’t entirely about it, or a central character in the film as they are in Spike Lee’s films.

True films about race, such as Guess Who’s Coming Home for Dinner or Imitation of Life, aren’t really considered to be in my top five because they are easily forgotten. Often those films lacked the commercial aspect that made Spike’s earlier films more digestible, though over time Spike’s films became a victim of their earlier successes and Spike was lost in the shuffle. These days Spike’s films are rarely mentioned with the anticipation that awaits other cerebral and conscientious filmmakers, such as Woody Allen or as was the case with Stanley Kubrick.

The top race relation film of all time is Do The Right Thing. This is Spike Lee’s quintessential film about race relations and the one which, for better or worse, has defined his career. What people do not know about Spike Lee is that he tried to make a name for himself before Do The Right Thing (arguably the first movie people remember Spike Lee by) with movies like She’s Got To Have It, Joe’s Bed-Stuy Barbershop: We Cut Heads (the theme of which was revisited in the Barbershop movies) and Last Hustle in Brooklyn. But Spike wasn’t getting anywhere talking about issues within the Black community as his early films had a “preaching to the choir” type of effect. For example, She’s Got To Have It dealt with issues such as third wave feminism, which became a real issue in the African-American community as women felt empowered to experiment sexually and didn’t feel the need to commit to just one person, but it didn’t necessarily make for an interesting film. Spike did revisit that theme later with films like Girl 6. In any event, in talking about about race and creating one of his most accessible films of all time Do The Right Thing is not just a great film about racial tension, but a good film overall.

The second race relation film of all time is Malcolm X. Yes the film was heavily edited and choppy, and ran way over budget, but it is a powerful film. The montage at the end showing children in classrooms around the world stating “I Am Malcolm X” is powerful, and hinted to the genius of Spike Lee.

The third race relation film of all time is Jungle Fever. It was a controversial film at the time, because it was from a singular point of view and didn’t do enough to give an overall perspective on interracial dating (such as Something New or other films), but it does so enough to get a general sense of the issues that arise with interracial relationships. My only real criticism of the film is that it suggests that the novelty of an interracial relationship is the only real reason for people to engage in them, and that people have little, if any, interest to truly get to know the other person. That may be the case initially but at the same time it isn’t as if any other films on the subject went that much deeper either.

The fourth race relation film of all time is School Daze. It addresses the differences we have with each other as African-Americans. It isn’t your typical race relation film and deals with a type of prejudice usually reserved for people within the same race that have cultural differences because of colorism. In fact it shares a lot in common with another great film about colorism, Imitation of Life. Technically, that film is perhaps the best respected film about colorism and the one that will stand the test of time, though it lacks the pop appeal that School Daze has.

The fifth race relation film of all time is Get On The Bus. It deals with the differences between a group of characters that are attending the Million Man March. But it doesn’t really deal with the march itself as much as it explores the personal reasons men had for attending the march. There is no protagonist, unlike Spike’s other films, which is true to the nature of the Million Man March itself. The March itself was significant historically because it was one of the first real efforts in a post-modern age where African-Americans took responsibility and ownership for how their actions and lifestyles were changed in a post civil rights era. The idea was for African-Americans to look towards themselves for solutions, particularly for African-American men, who at the time was seen as the spiritual and economic head of the family. Other movements, such as Tavis Smiley’s Covenant with Black America pick up on the spirit of the marches (there was also a Million Woman March) and try to move forward.

It is also important to note that on some level in the twenty-first century Spike Lee’s penchant for addressing the topic of race relations seems to have waned. What Spike did do, was to get back into the serious film making that he had sought out to do in his college days and create movies that were just great films overall. For example Inside Man had nothing at all to do with racism. Arguably Bamboozled was Spike’s last real convincing movie about racism; though by then he sort of out of the loop, arguments about the ubiquity of Tommy Hilfiger were a bit out of place because when Bamboozled was completed African-Americans were into designers like Gucci and Prada. Artistically, Spike used digital video when few other filmmakers were as it was still in it’s rudimentary form; yet it is a testament to how African-Americans would continue to exploit themselves in the technological age through music videos or social-networking shows (if you want to read that much into it). The movie has a grassroots, reality show, amateur look and feel to it, long before any of that was ever popular. Yet despite the artistic nature of it on many levels Spike was trying entirely too hard to shock us, loosing the confidence of his earlier swagger from 11 years ago, and for this reason alone it is difficult to place Bamboozled in even his top five let alone any other top five lists …