“Chi-Raq”
Film Analysis
Spike
Lee’s films always seem to cover a controversial topic and one of his most
recent “Chi-Raq” isn’t an exception. From stopping gang violence to promoting
world peace, this film covers a variety of topics. Lee’s choice of storytelling
was very interesting within the film for unlike most modern films where you are
thrown into a story and you watch it unravel in front of you, in “Chi-Raq” it
is presented as an event that had already happened and you are being retold the
story by a narrator which happens to be Samuel Jackson. When the narrator
appears normally with a zoom shot or voice over, it generally signifies an
ending of one act and the beginning of another similarly to a play. In addition,
to the film being broken into acts the entire screenplay is in meter so almost
every other line rhymes creating a unique Shakespearean atmosphere, which is no
longer present in modern storytelling unless used for a remake of a Shakespeare
play; but this film doesn’t tell a story of Shakespeare, but instead an ancient
Greek play known as Lysistrata, and it is revamped to cover modern topics. Lee’s
style of storytelling within the film is the main selling point, for its told
in his own unique film universe that Lee had created while also encompassing elements
from different types of film. For example, for a good majority of the film it
felt like a Woman’s picture due to the gender topics that were present, while
another part of the film felt like a war film due to the vast amount of voyeurism
and shooting that was present due to the gang conflict that created the main
plot of the film. On the other hand, the film could also be classified as apart
of Transnational Cinema for its message for peace over violence had spread to multiple
countries. The film as a whole was phenomenal with its use of time lapse and
narration making it very fluid and clear to understand, while also adding in a
meter rhyme scheme to the script in order to show that what is being depicted isn’t
real, but very much could be. In the end, the film almost feels like it was
college video project that was uploaded to YouTube, but this weird style is
what will keep you entertained throughout the majority of the film. Thus, if
you havn’t seen “Chi-Raq” it will leave you with discomfort while thinking how
you can help you community and stop conflicts within the future generations.