CHI-RAQ (2015)

Cast

Plot

Lee returns to his previous polemic and fine filmmaking form with Chi-Raq, a musical-comedy satire about the cycle and effects of violence and gun crime on black communities in America. The story is all Lysistrata (Aristophanes); women withhold sex from men in the hopes of making them stop using violence against each other. It's far from politically correct, not nearly as violent as the neighbourhoods it purports to represent and yes, it is as heavy-handed as Bamboozled and 25th Hour, but the message makes sense and there's a lot to be said for the gendered depiction of violence. Provocative stuff.