Chi-Raq, 2015.
Directed by Spike Lee.
Starring Nick Cannon, Teyonah Parris, Wesley Snipes, Angela Bassett, Jennifer Hudson, John Cusack and Samuel L. Jackson.
SYNOPSIS:
A modern day adaptation of the ancient Greek play Lysistrata by Aristophanes, set against the backdrop of gang violence in Chicago.
Evidently, Chi-Raq – a loose adaptation of the ancient Greek play Lysistrata and Spike Lee’s most vibrant film in decades has come at an apt time. Although only just reaching the UK a good year after its release in the US, the stars have seemed to align in order to place emphasis on its importance. Interviewing Bernie Sanders in The Guardian, Lee announced, “I mean, we’re all looking upon the debris and trying to say…what the fuck? When I woke up that morning, the world is different, it’s a different world.”
Lee has long been outspoken about the need to abolish archaic gun laws and in Chi-Raq, he’s created a fantastical manifesto. Set in Chicago, or “Chi-Raq”, a term banded about likening the city to a war-zone, the incidental death of a young child caught in cross fire forces the women of the city to withhold from sex until the men agree to lay down their arms.
Led by Teyonah Parris’ Lysistrata, the women force a crisis, giving way to her rapper boyfriend Demetrius (Nick Cannon) intensifying his feud with rival gang lord Sean “Cyclops” Andrews (Wesley Snipes). Samuel L. Jackson, dressed to the nines, acts as our guide, narrating through rhyme, appearing sporadically, like a hip-hop guardian angel.
Plotting, where appropriate, is never steeped in allegory nor drowning in exposing the toxic gun culture of Chicago, instead, it’s played loose and playful-the message screamed from rooftops and through megaphones being “No Peace, No Pussy.” A military attempt to seduce under the guise of Operation: Hot and Bothered is both surreal and erotic as is Lysistrata and her scantily clad army’s numerous attempts to amplify the blue balls of the male town-folk.
That term, “A Spike Lee joint,” has long dissipated into a passing punch line as a direct result of films misjudged, half-arsed, largely unseen, but with Chi-Raq, it finds reason to be celebrated again. Lee directs with a frenetic assertiveness and the writing, largely done through rhyme, plays like an elongated hip-hop musical number. It’s something only Lee could hope to get away with.
Yet for all its frisky playfulness, Lee ensures it hits hard where appropriate. Running parallel is a far more grounded study of loss, finding Jennifer Hudson desperately attempting to find those responsible for the loss of her child. Although these moments-seemingly deliberately-jar, they swell with tragedy and moral injustice.
An appearance by John Cusack as the local church leader-putting in a career best performance-at first plays misjudged, but transforms into a performance righteous and mighty during a gob-smacking funeral scene that lays out immensely tragic gun statistics. It’s a moment strikingly iconoclastic that ruminates long after coming to an end.
But through all this, it’s Teyonah Parris who carries the full burden. Her performance is of such supreme confidence, that any moment her guard is let down, she seems to quiver with a rare frailty. Whilst on screen, everything around her radiates.
In Chi-Raq, Spike Lee has created a vital piece of fantastical satire that although comical and erotic, masks an epidemic on the cusp of a pandemic. It’s a colossal achievement that educates as it does entertain. Lee’s best work since Crooklyn and one of the very best of the year. “NO PEACE, NO PUSSY.”
Flickering Myth Rating – Film: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ / Movie: ★ ★ ★ ★ ★
Thomas Harris
Originally published December 1, 2016. Updated April 16, 2018.
