Chi-Raq

Chi-Raq (2015) is Spike Lee's sharp satirical comedy you can watch online on iFILM. The film stars Teyonah Parris, Nick Cannon, Wesley Snipes, Angela Bassett, Samuel L. Jackson, and Jennifer Hudson.

Lee transplants Aristophanes' ancient Greek comedy Lysistrata into contemporary Chicago's South Side, where gang shootings claim more lives than most war zones. Chiraq (Nick Cannon) commands a street crew; his girlfriend Lysistrata (Teyonah Parris) has had enough. She rallies women from both rival gangs to enforce a sex strike until the men lay down their weapons. The men find it absurd. Then they find it unbearable.

Lee stages the whole film in rhyming verse, with Samuel L. Jackson as a Greek-chorus narrator cutting through the action with sardonic commentary. The comedy is real — so is the body count it references. Stream Chi-Raq (2015) online on iFILM.