Chi-Raq – Budget of $15 million – 1 hour 58 minutes

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Chi-Raq is rapping on stage, with fellow Spartan gang members and their girls, including Lysistrata, looking and singing along.  Then shots ring out and a member of the Spartans, wearing purple, and the Trojans, wearing orange, are shot.  Even with all the choas, this is normal life for those living in Chicago … or as they call it Chi-Raq (like the rapper’s name).   But after a 10 year old girl get shot and no one comes forward, Lysistrata’s guilt takes over when she is singled out by the girl’s grieving mother.  She meets with Miss Helen, who tells Lysistrata to Google Leymah Gbowee.  A Liberian woman who organized a sex strike to end the violence.  This gives Lysistrata the idea to start a sex strike of her own.  She gathers women from both gangs and the work together to get the wives, girlfriends, thots, strippers, and prostitutes to all go on strike, until the gangs make peace.  Only time will tell if giving No Piece will force Peace

Spike Lee’s telling of Aristophanes’ classic Greek comedy, Lysistrata is wonderfully done.  Lee goes way from the normal prose of his scripts and keeps the rhythmic flow of Aristophanes’ poetry.  Even with this movie’s painful facts, Lee provides laughs to help ease the tension.  It did take a minute to buy Nick Cannon, playing Chi-Raq, as a gangster, but his supporting cast makes it more believable.  Teyonah Parris, playing Lysistrata, carries the roles with poise, strength, and true beauty.  And your narrator, played by Samuel L. Jackson, will not be forgotten.  The opening intro is a little long, but Lee’s master story telling shines through in each moment of this film.

I give it 4.5 out of 5 stars

Nothing, absolutely nothing  – Miss Helen

Even though we live in terror town, we deserve respect – Lysistrata

What makes someone a target is not the shooter.  What makes someone a target is the community that surrenders to fear – Fr. Mike Corridan

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