Spike Lee is no stranger to controversy and this modern update of the ancient Greek play Lysistrata in which a woman withholds sex from her husband in an effort to end the Peloponnesian War to be about the gang violence in Chicago was received with mixed reviews and hostility from some. There are fair criticisms to make of this very funny and bold satire, but the idea that making a movie about something is per se exploiting it I can’t accept. Lee, who co-wrote with Kevin Willmott, is sincere in his depiction of America’s inner cities being trapped between bad cops and ruthless gangs (the harshest indictment of all is saved for the NRA). Chi-Raq is his most powerful and passionate filmmaking in several years. It’s both mournful and raunchily hilarious: a sermon of a movie.
Chi-Raq