Spike Lee doesn’t miss a beat in hip-hop call to urgency

What It’s About

Director Spike Lee sounds off an alarm in the explosive “Chi-Raq,” and after recent headlines, the film couldn’t be more timely.

But time will tell whether people heed his “This Is An Emergency” urgency.

In any case, attention must be paid to the explosive film, which sets Aristophanes’ 411 B.C. play “Lysistrata” in a contemporary south side Chicago gang war, complete with rhyming verse as dialogue, executed with a hip-hop beat.

Lee’s ambitious work should be applauded as an attempt to stir the pot, fire up people and diminish gun violence,

But the movie’s message is diluted somewhat by its different tones. It works best as a straightforward, sobering account of what’s going on in the streets. But that harsh reality is exaggerated when a broad sex satire that is often over-the-top, bordering on camp, takes over.

Two gangs, the Trojans and the Spartans, are at odds, led by Chi-Raq (Nick Cannon) and Cyclops (Wesley Snipes). When a stray bullet kills a young girl, a grief-stricken mother (Jennifer Hudson) wonders why another baby must be buried needlessly. No one saw anything.

At the encouragement of Miss Helen (Angela Bassett), Chi-Raq’s girlfriend Lysistrata (Teyonah Parris) organizes the local women in a sex strike. They will abstain until the guys stop fighting. The movement takes off and gains ground.

Performances

Samuel L. Jackson commands the screen as narrator Dolmedes, part carnival barker, part snake charmer, as he shouts this wake-up call..

Parris, effective in “Dear White People” and as Dawn on “Mad Men,” delivers a blistering characterization of a woman who takes matters into her own hands, and effects social change.

Cannon, host of “America’s Got Talent,” is surprisingly potent as the angry rapper blind to the truth. But Wesley Snipes has affected a strange high-pitched voice that is distracting.

Although she is not used enough, Jennifer Hudson is raw and heartbreaking as an inconsolable mother. As a local activist priest, John Cusack is strong, particularly in a fiery sermon at the young girl’s funeral.

What Works

The opening sequence, with Cannon singing “Pray 4 My City” while only the lyrics are shown is a bold move.

Stark images of youths lost in the urban war zone are powerful, and the movie is vital when it depicts real life in Englewood.

What Doesn’t Work

But the farcical elements of the plot don’t quite come across well, as Lee’s heavy-handedness gets in the way of good intentions.

Even though its whiplash in tone weakens the impact, the point is there. More killings in Chicago have occurred in recent years than in Iraq and Afghanistan combined.

If the movie continues the conversation in a meaningful way, bravo.

This story was originally published December 3, 2015 at 2:32 AM with the headline "Spike Lee doesn’t miss a beat in hip-hop call to urgency."