SPIKE LEE

A lucid look at one of our most talented and controversial filmmakers. Bernotas focuses more on Lee's themes—double sexual standards in She's Gotta Have It, for instance, or black-vs.-black racism in School Daze—and the critical response to his films than on their plots or production. Lee is seen as committed to making ``realistic movies about real African-American people...`We want to show,' he often says, `that we're not all hanging around the ghetto shooting up, selling crack.' '' His films force viewers to think hard about difficult issues; since most of them were shot on modest budgets and made money, they have also opened doors at major studios for other young black directors. Bernotas makes only passing references to Lee's private life, carries his subject's career not much beyond the opening of Malcolm X, and says nothing about his current projects; still, this surpasses Patterson's Spike Lee (1992) in provoking thoughtful appreciation of the director's work and messages. B&w photos; chronology; chapter notes; further reading; index. (Biography. 12+)