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With a politically-charged message, energized aesthetics and some suave direct narration courtesy of Samuel L. Jackson, it looks like “Chi-Raq” has everything viewers have come to expect from the one and only Spike Lee.
Co-written with Kevin Willmont, the new Spike Lee joint is a modern day adaptation of Aristophanes’ ancient Greek play “Lysistrata.” Teyonah Parris stars as the eponymous character, who reacts to the murder of a child by a stray bullet by organizing a group of women against the ongoing violence in Chicago’s Southside. Her efforts create a movement that challenges the ideas of race, sex and violence in America and around the world.
The director is once again operating in the same blood-boiling current events that first gained him international recognition in “Do The Right Thing,” and the new trailer for “Chi-Raq” is emotionally and politically potent just like the best Spike Lee joints.
Amazon Studios and Roadside Attractions will release “Chi-Raq” in theaters December 4. Watch the trailer above, courtesy of IMBD.
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