Lost in The Jungle

By DAVID ELLIS

What's the message in Jungle Fever, director Spike Lee's new film about an interracial love affair? Not even the film's main players can agree:

Lonette McKee (who portrays the betrayed wife): "The message is, you've got to follow your heart and do what you want to do in love."

Spike Lee: "A lot of these relationships aren't based on love, but on sexual myths -- that the white woman is the epitome of beauty and that black males are sexual supermen."

Annabella Sciorra (Angie, the white mistress): "My character just happens to meet a black man. I don't think she goes out with him because he's black."

Wesley Snipes (Flipper, the black architect): "I think it's about how color- conscious this society really is."

With reporting by Linda Williams