And of course some of the likable characters do bad things. Anyone who walks into this film expecting answers is a dreamer or a fool. But anyone who leaves the movie with more intolerance than they walked in with wasn't paying attention. The movie takes place during one long, hot day in the Bedford-Stuyevesant neighborhood of Brooklyn. But this is not the typical urban cityscape we've seen in countless action movies about violence and guns and drugs.
People live here.
The neighborhood is black, but two of the businesses aren't. And in a nearby storefront that had been boarded up for years, a Korean family has opened a fruit and vegetable stand. They know everybody, and everybody knows them. Sal is a tough, no-nonsense guy who basically wants to get along and tend to business. One of his sons is a vocal racist - in private, of course.