They Don't Care About Us (Short Film)

Spike Lee directed two versions of this protest song's video, each grounded in real communities. One was filmed in the favelas of Salvador and Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, with Michael performing amid crowds and the thundering drums of the group Olodum. The other, a harsher prison version, uses documentary footage of injustice, brutality, and human-rights abuses to underline the song's anger. Both put Michael among ordinary people rather than on a polished set, framing him as a voice for the overlooked and mistreated.

Spike Lee shot the Brazil version on location in 1996 despite official worries about the country's image, working directly in the hillside neighborhoods with local residents. The percussion group Olodum provided the driving Afro-Brazilian rhythm and appeared on screen. The prison version intercut Michael performing in a cell-like space with real news footage of violence, war, and oppression from around the world, a montage meant to confront viewers with the realities the song names.

The Brazil version has no plot: Michael sings and dances through packed streets and rooftops as the community surrounds him and Olodum's drums pound. The energy is communal and defiant. The prison version places him behind bars, the performance broken by stark archival images of beatings, conflict, and suffering. Together the two cuts turn the song into a global protest, one celebratory and rooted in a specific place, the other grim and worldwide in scope.

In the Brazil version Michael's movement locks into the Olodum percussion, sharp accents and footwork riding the samba-reggae beat, feeding off the crowd. The choreography is looser and more rhythmic than his studio-set videos, shaped by the live drums and the streets. The prison version restrains him, the movement tighter and more contained within the cell.

The Brazil shoot drew international attention to Salvador and Rio and boosted Olodum's global profile. The prison version's use of real atrocity footage made it one of the most pointed protest videos by a major pop star. Both remain touchstones for artists using music video as social commentary, and the song has been revived at protests and events for decades.