School Daze focuses on divisions within the African-American community: light-skinned vs. dark-skinned, college-educated vs. not, social focus (fraternities) vs. political focus. Lee calls the movie a recap of his four years at Morehouse University in Atlanta stuffed into the fictional "Mission College" homecoming weekend during which the film takes place. Vaughn (Laurence Fishburne) is an activist trying to get the college to divest from South Africa. Julian (Giancarlo Esposito) is the head of Gamma Phi Gamma, a fraternity to which Vaughn's cousin Darrell (Lee) is a pledge. The Gammas have a female auxiliary, the Gamma Rays, headed by Dina (Jasmine Guy); they are the "wannabes" (as in "wannabe white"). Then there are the political or other non-sorority women, who the Gammas call "jigaboos."

The movie is fascinating on a number of levels, most notably in that it brings to light conflicts that exist but are (or were) rarely spoken about, conflicts that divide African-Americans, preventing them from having a unified voice and, in turn, power. Something as seemingly trivial as making one's hair straight or coloring it takes on a new significance if it is motivated by internalized racism. These are issues written about in literary novels like Paradise by Toni Morrison, but brilliant a writer as she is, her work is so complex that it's accessible only to a relative handful of people. Lee puts the issues into a pop culture context where it reached a broader cross-section of young people.

In some ways, the film is surreal: Grease meets West Side Story meets Sarafina! With several fully choreographed musical numbers and a gorgeous score by Lee's father, jazz musician Bill Lee, it almost seems as though School Daze would fit right in on a Broadway stage. Much of the dialogue is paced rhythmically rather than naturally, giving the entire film a musical feel. Forced to conform to this pacing, many of the performances are either wooden or over-the-top, but all seem to blend together and work.

What makes the DVD exceptional isn't just the movie. Lee's commentary is fascinating—a rarity for him—and provides deep insight into the inspirations for and production of the film. Among a few of his gems: Morehouse kicked the cast and crew off the campus after a few weeks because they felt the film wasn't presenting black universities in a positive light; he chose to house groups of actors and actresses in hotels based on their social status (the "Jigaboos" were at the Ramada in Atlanta, while the "Wannabes" were put up at the Embassy Suites) to encourage realistic tension between the two groups. There's a rule in Actor's Equity Association, the stage actors' union, that prevents such psychological games; one would think the Screen Actors' Guild has similar guidelines. Nonetheless, he played the groups against each other and it worked: a massive fight scene in the second half of the film wasn't scripted or even intended: it simply broke out while the cameras were rolling.

Lee doesn't talk much about his conflict with Laurence Fishburne, but from the few 1987 on-set interview clips with Fishburne, and through comments from other cast members, it's clear the two clashed not only artistically, but also on the issues. They haven't worked together since. The second-billed star, Esposito, is much more forthcoming and insightful, even though he too apparently had it out with Lee during production.

The cast commentary doesn't include any of the big names (though Tisha Campbell was one of the female leads), and with four voices, three of them male, it's confusing. Additionally, the four clearly bonded so deeply with one another that it's almost like eavesdropping on a bunch of friends telling inside jokes—you get that they think it's funny, but you don't understand the punch line.

The three featurettes are among the best ever made, in large part because each examines substance as well as style. The producers (not Lee) wanted to show how the tension in the movie was reflected on the set. "Birth of a Nation," the making-of documentary, features Lee, the cast members and crew talking about the production experience. "College Daze" is a series of interviews with cast and crew about their college and fraternity experiences (or lack thereof), complete with identifiers of which attended which colleges (along with a few yearbook photos) and how they personally experienced the issues reflected in the film. Most notable in this section is Esposito, who did not attend college, talking about how his lighter-skinned brother (they're half Italian) has always been rejected by their African-American grandmother. Finally, "Making a Mark" focuses on cast and crew looking back and reflecting on how being involved with this film influenced their lives, and how they feel about it now. Several cast members seem to be of the opinion that the film does reflect poorly on black universities, but also that it's an accurate representation of one aspect of schools (nobody thinks Animal House is representative of all universities, right? Except that many more films are made about the Caucasian experience in higher education).

This is one of the only DVDs in which the features are as interesting as the film—perhaps even more so. And how often do you hear cast members (or crew, for that matter) speak honestly about social and political issues that affect them personally and professionally? Though the film was released in 1988 and is set more or less in the late '70s to early '80s, its themes are timeless. Lee points out that, today, more African-American men are in prison than college. Some cities have gone back to the idea of all-black schools, in order to give children a level playing field and the opportunity to learn their own cultural history (though that would seem to excuse other schools from integrating African-American history into their curriculums).

As nearly everyone involved in the production said, School Daze would not be made today. A film about African-American university life would be very different—probably less political and more social. But that just reinforces the place of School Daze as a very culturally significant film.

— SARAH CHAUNCEY