Film details
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Featuring
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Director
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Country
USA
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Year
2015
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Genres
Comedy Musical
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Type
Film
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Category
Fiction
Introduction
Spike Lee's dazzling, rage-fuelled, in-your-face hip-hop musical repurposes Aristophanes’ Lysistrata – a comedy about a Greek heroine who leads a sex-strike to prevent war – setting it in Chicago’s South Side.
Chi-Raq (Nick Cannon) is the leader of the Spartans and the lover of foxy, feisty Lysistrata (Teyonah Parris). The Spartans are at war with rival gang, the Trojans, led by Cyclops (Wesley Snipes). When an 11-year-old-girl is killed in the crossfire of a gang battle, Lysistrata decides to take action. On the advice of her activist neighbour Miss Helen (Angela Bassett), she convinces all the sisters, on both sides, to take a stand. Their rally cry: “No peace, no pussy”. Needless to say, deprivation undoes the men.
Song lyrics, spoken word and on-screen titles bring it home. This is scorching social analysis framed as raunchy entertainment. And in case you’re not getting it (or getting any), Samuel L Jackson breaks it down – a one-man chorus in a nifty three-piece suit.
At its core, Chi-Raq is deadly serious (the title conflates Chi-cago and I-raq) and the film underscores that there were more gun-related deaths in Chicago in the first 15 years of the 21st century than in Iraq and Afghanistan combined.
Cast & Credits
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Cast
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Demetrius Dupree, 'Chi-Raq'
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Cyclops
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Lysistrata
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Irene
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Old Duke
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Commissioner Blades
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Mayor Mccloud
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Miss Helen
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Father Mike Corridan
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Dolmedes
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Rasheeda
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Indigo
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Marcy
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Dania
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Hecuba
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Electra Johnson
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Major King Kong
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Big Mike
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Jah
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Armonty
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Cairo
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Kandy
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Sergeant Toney
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Private Alto
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Chief Riptide
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Credits
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Direction:
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Directed by
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1st Assistant Director
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Script Supervisor
Rights:
Production:
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Production Company
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This production participated in
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Presents
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Executive Producer
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Executive Producer
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Produced by
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Line Producer
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Unit Production Manager
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Locations Manager
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Post-production Supervisor
Casting:
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Casting
Writing:
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Written by
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Written by
Photography:
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Director of Photography
Special Effects:
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Visual Effects by
Editing:
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Editor
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Editor
Design:
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Production Design
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Art Direction
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Set Designer
Costumes:
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Costume Design
Make-up:
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Department Head Make-up
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Department Head Hair
Titles:
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Titles by
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Title Designer
Music:
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Music Score
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Keyboardist
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Trumpet
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Saxophone
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Violin
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Bass
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Vibraphone
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Trombone
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Drums
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Percussion
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Organist
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Guitar
Choreography:
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Choreography
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Head of Movement
Sound:
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Sound Design
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Production Sound Mixer
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Re-recording Mixer
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Supervising Sound Editor
Stunts:
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Stunt Co-ordinator
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