To start, one has to give Spike Lee an "A" for originality. Who would have thought of a movie dealing with the problem of gang violence in Chicago through an adaptation of an ancient Greek comedy (Lysistrate by Aristophanes)? Simply because of that, this piqued my curiosity when I first heard about it and long before I had seen it. Now, I readily confess that I am nothing even close to an authority on ancient Greek comedies - and while I've heard of Aristophanes I had never heard of Lysistrate until now. So I guess you could say that I learned something from this. And it's a very fresh and original take on a very serious contemporary problem. I obviously can't comment on how good the adaptation is because of my lack of knowledge about the original, so my comments are restricted to the actual movie.
I wanted to watch this because I'm somewhat familiar with Chicago. I'm not a native and I'm not even an American. But for a few weeks every summer for a few years I lived in Chicago, while I pursued a doctoral degree. The neighbourhood of Hyde Park to be precise. I remember the first year I was there. The university gave us newbies a "security briefing." Hyde Park was pretty safe, we were told. Two police forces (Chicago and University of Chicago) patrolling and emergency phones all over. Still - don't go out alone after dark and even during the day don't walk alone beyond the boundaries of Hyde Park. Too dangerous, we were told. It seemed like a bit of a siege mentality. I ignored the second piece of advice a few times to walk to Garfield Station on the Red Line to travel downtown. I never felt in danger - but once out of Hyde Park there was a different feel. A little grittier; a little tougher. I wasn't afraid, but I was more observant of my surroundings on those walks. And outside Hyde Park Union Church one year was a massive banner with the names of all the children who'd been murdered - over what period of time I don't remember. It was very sobering. Still, I came to love Chicago for many reasons. So I wanted to see this.
It revolves around the murder of a little 7 year old girl named Patti, caught in the crossfire of a gang shooting. For me, the movie was connected by three very powerful scenes. The first was when Patti's mother showed up at the murder scene but couldn't cross the police lines to run to her dead daughter's body. The second in the middle of the movie was the sermon preached by Father Mike at Patty's funeral. It was powerful and raw and captivating. The third was near the end, with the mothers of murdered children confronting Chi-Raq. Those were all scenes that you couldn't take your eyes off. But somehow what came between those scenes was less than stellar. Yes - it's those scenes that provide the connection with Lysistrate. To try to force Chicago's gangs to stop the killing, their women refuse to have sex with them. (In Lysistrate, Greek women refuse sex with their husbands as punishment for them fighting in the Peloponnesian War.) The content between Patti's death and funeral was not bad as the "sex strike" takes shape. But what came between the funeral and the confrontation of Chi-Raq with the mothers sometimes just seemed to descend into plain silliness not worthy of the truly serious tone of the movie.
And though based on a Greek comedy, this is a very serious movie. Gang warfare, children being murdered, women's empowerment, political corruption - they're all at the heart of this. It's sometimes strangely funny, but it's never light comedy fare. It also features some really good performances. Teyonnah Paris was great (and very sexy) as Lysistrate, who organizes the sex strike, and Nick Cannon was pretty good as her rapper-gangster boyfriend Chi-Raq, who is the leader of one of the warring gangs. Samuel L. Jackson did a decent enough job of moving the story along as Dolmedes - the narrator. And a real stand-out (to me) was John Cusack as Father Mike - the priest of the neighbourhood church who preached that powerful funeral sermon. Cusack nailed that sermon. He was absolutely perfect.
I can see that this wouldn't be appealing to everyone. And it is a bit uneven - those three really powerful scenes, with the in between material just not as strong. But it's a gutsy movie with an original way of approaching a very serious issue. (7/10)
I wanted to watch this because I'm somewhat familiar with Chicago. I'm not a native and I'm not even an American. But for a few weeks every summer for a few years I lived in Chicago, while I pursued a doctoral degree. The neighbourhood of Hyde Park to be precise. I remember the first year I was there. The university gave us newbies a "security briefing." Hyde Park was pretty safe, we were told. Two police forces (Chicago and University of Chicago) patrolling and emergency phones all over. Still - don't go out alone after dark and even during the day don't walk alone beyond the boundaries of Hyde Park. Too dangerous, we were told. It seemed like a bit of a siege mentality. I ignored the second piece of advice a few times to walk to Garfield Station on the Red Line to travel downtown. I never felt in danger - but once out of Hyde Park there was a different feel. A little grittier; a little tougher. I wasn't afraid, but I was more observant of my surroundings on those walks. And outside Hyde Park Union Church one year was a massive banner with the names of all the children who'd been murdered - over what period of time I don't remember. It was very sobering. Still, I came to love Chicago for many reasons. So I wanted to see this.
It revolves around the murder of a little 7 year old girl named Patti, caught in the crossfire of a gang shooting. For me, the movie was connected by three very powerful scenes. The first was when Patti's mother showed up at the murder scene but couldn't cross the police lines to run to her dead daughter's body. The second in the middle of the movie was the sermon preached by Father Mike at Patty's funeral. It was powerful and raw and captivating. The third was near the end, with the mothers of murdered children confronting Chi-Raq. Those were all scenes that you couldn't take your eyes off. But somehow what came between those scenes was less than stellar. Yes - it's those scenes that provide the connection with Lysistrate. To try to force Chicago's gangs to stop the killing, their women refuse to have sex with them. (In Lysistrate, Greek women refuse sex with their husbands as punishment for them fighting in the Peloponnesian War.) The content between Patti's death and funeral was not bad as the "sex strike" takes shape. But what came between the funeral and the confrontation of Chi-Raq with the mothers sometimes just seemed to descend into plain silliness not worthy of the truly serious tone of the movie.
And though based on a Greek comedy, this is a very serious movie. Gang warfare, children being murdered, women's empowerment, political corruption - they're all at the heart of this. It's sometimes strangely funny, but it's never light comedy fare. It also features some really good performances. Teyonnah Paris was great (and very sexy) as Lysistrate, who organizes the sex strike, and Nick Cannon was pretty good as her rapper-gangster boyfriend Chi-Raq, who is the leader of one of the warring gangs. Samuel L. Jackson did a decent enough job of moving the story along as Dolmedes - the narrator. And a real stand-out (to me) was John Cusack as Father Mike - the priest of the neighbourhood church who preached that powerful funeral sermon. Cusack nailed that sermon. He was absolutely perfect.
I can see that this wouldn't be appealing to everyone. And it is a bit uneven - those three really powerful scenes, with the in between material just not as strong. But it's a gutsy movie with an original way of approaching a very serious issue. (7/10)