DECEMBER 11, 2015
On Thursday, hundreds of protesters filled the streets of Chicago demanding the resignation of Mayor Rahm Emmanuel. The protests center on the police killing of a 17-year-old African-American Laquan McDonald by white officer Jason Van Dyke, who allegedly pumped 16 bullets into McDonald’s body in 2014.
Van Dyke was finally charged with murder on Nov. 24, more than 12 months after the crime. In addition, the police video of the killing was finally released after a year, which raises the question of whether Mayor Emmanuel suppressed the damaging video’s release in order to help him win a very tight runoff election last April.
Just another day in Chicago, or as it is called in Spike Lee’s timely new film, “Chi-Raq.” Like most Spike Lee films, “Chi-Raq” is all over the place, but even if it is a bit of a mess, it is a vital and relevant mess — adjectives that haven’t applied to a Spike Lee joint in a decade.
“Chi-Raq” is a nickname given to the city of Chicago by local rappers due to the amount of everyday violence in the streets, much like a Mideast war zone. In fact, the film opens with a still frame noting that more young Americans have been killed in the streets of Chicago than in the war in the Middle East, a statistic that looms over every frame in the film.
The plot of “Chi-Raq” was originally written in 411 BC. (That’s not a typo.) It’s based on “Lysistrata,” a classic play by Aristophanes, who wrote about a very different kind of war in ancient Greece. Our Lysistrata (Teyonah Parris, terrific) is the girlfriend of a rapper also named Chi-Raq (“America’s Got Talent” host Nick Cannon, who’s actually good here), who heads up the powerful local gang, The Trojans. His rival is Cyclops (Wesley Snipes), the one-eyed leader of The Spartans, and the turf war between these two gangs has turned the Chicago streets blood-red.
Our guide to “Chi-Raq” is narrator Dolmedes (Samuel L. Jackson, complete with orange suit and twirling cane), who gives us the who’s who in the city. Dolmedes is not a character in the original play, but is instead a sly nod to Dolemite, a famed figure in blaxploitation films of the 1970s. (Nice touch, and Sam is fun in his “What’s in your wallet?” mode.)
After she witnesses the grief of a young mother (Jennifer Hudson) whose little girl is the victim of a drive-by shooting, Lysistrata visits local sage Miss Helen (Angela Bassett) and comes up with a plan to stop the violence between the two gangs. She visits the girlfriends of The Spartans, who, while initially suspicious, are sick of the violence too. They come on board with Lysistrata’s plan, and together the women announce that until the violence ends, they’re withholding sex from the men. They even have a slogan for their movement — “No Peace! No Pussy!”
Chi-Raq and Cyclops dismiss the women’s ploy, but they soon change their tune when they realize that they’re not getting any. They’re determined to carry on their turf war, but their blue balls are beginning to get in the way. Even the local hookers are down with the plan. What’s a gang-banger to do?
Did I mention that “Chi-Raq” is a comedy?
And that it has huge musical numbers?
And that it features elaborate dance routines?
And that the film’s dialogue is all in rhyming verse?
Needless to say, it’s unlikely you’ve ever seen a film quite like “Chi-Raq.” Yes, it’s occasionally preachy (it’s a Spike Lee movie, after all), but the rhyming is so clever and audacious that it’s worth sitting through a few sermons. Speaking of which, John Cusack delivers a doozie of an anti-gun sermon (“Guns have become a part of America’s wardrobe”) as a character based on real-life priest Fr. Michael Pfleger, a white cleric leading an African-American church. It’s the best work Cusack has done in years. And when you have actors of the caliber of Cusack, Bassett and Jackson you’re halfway home.
The director is swinging for the fences here, and he misses as often as he connects. But when “Chi-Raq” does work, it displays a satiric edge that can only be the work of Spike Lee.
GRADE: B-
