This Is An Emergency

With those words, Spike Lee's re-telling of Lysistrata begins. We're told to "Wake up!" at the beginning and at the very end of this brutal satire - just as Lee did 25+ years ago with Do the Right Thing and it seems logical to use that phrase as a set of cinematic bookends, since it appears we haven't learned a damn thing since then.

Yes - go see Chi-Raq. Go see it on the big screen and take your neighbors who are old enough to be frightened by the fact that gun violence in our country has reached levels that seem to only have one direction - up - and that many, many citizens seem to have thrown in the towel, insisting that the only solution to this plague is yet more guns in yet more places. (Oh, and bulletproof sleeping mats for napping kindergartners.)

Before I go into specifics about why you ought to carve time out of this cheery holiday season to see a film about gangs, senseless violence, sex, and the power of women (with nary a reindeer in sight), let's clear one thing up right now. Lee is taking a great deal of heat for this film - in part, due to some odd interviews he's given after the release of the film. But a lot of the pearl-clutching criticism comes from people shooting off their mouths about the film being "exploitative" and "disrespectful." He's been called the equivalent of a carpetbagger - that Brooklyn so-and-so coming in to Chicago to tell us what our problems are!

So - a quick lesson on Lysistrata and satire. To begin with, I was thrilled when one review mentioned that the source material is a play "that you’ve probably never heard about unless you’ve taken some (perhaps advanced) literature courses in college." I teach about that play in my first-year, open-to-folks-with-no-prerequisite intro to theatre course. Now - satire versus parody. Think of "parody" as mimicking something (or someone) specifically in order to create a humorous effect. It has no other purpose but to entertain. "Satire" is broader, involving mimicking something general in order to comment on something broader, with the intent of commenting on the society that created the subject, often with the idea of changing it. Parody wants you simply to laugh; satire wants you to think. The Scary Movie franchise (and its assorted ilk) is a parody on the genre of teen horror movies (and you need to understand the specific references to "get" the jokes), while Mel Brooks' hilarious Blazing Saddles is a satire on racism. 

Lysistrata is a satire - and a biting one. No, of course withholding sex isn't going to end war - for one thing, if the men are all off at war, who's around to be affected by the sex strike? But nevermind - it's a play, and as Shakespeare reminds us in Hamlet, the play's the thing. With Chi-Raq, Lee keeps the broad framework and the Greek flavor - the warring gangs are the "Trojans" and the "Spartans" (standing in for the Crips and the Bloods), there's a coffeehouse called the "Deus Ex Machina," the women await the peace talks in a fortified location, plus you've got Cyclops, Oedipus, and a very wise "Miss Helen." Most importantly, Lee kept the fact that the sex strike is undertaken by the women because it's the only power they have. These women feel helpless in their own community and want to end the bloodshed. In ancient Greece, women had very little power - political or otherwise. In our society, women have more power, but often don't claim it. And until you claim that power, it's very easy to think men just want One Thing.

Oh, and did I mention that Lee keeps the whole thing in rhyming couplets? Greek comic plays were known for rhyming structure and broad, coarse language (many weren't translated into English until the 19th century - it was felt that if you could read them in the original Greek, you were too sophisticated to be sullied by jokes about impotence, randy men, and hot-to-trot women. The Victorians were weird). Lee co-wrote the screenplay with film academic Kevin Willmott, who wrote the devastating satire C.S.A. - The Confederate States of America in which the Confederacy won the American Civil War. (Do check that one out.) And do not forget that satire is intended to be funny and Chi-Raq has laugh-out-loud points. I think that's probably what's confusing people - the situation is serious; how can you find humor in it? (Well, rewatch Blazing Saddles and ask yourself that question again.) Hearing Dave Chappell play an upset club owner whose "talent" has joined the striking women shout that "the situation's out of control/'Cause I'm in front of an empty stripper pole!" makes that point rather eloquently.

Go see this movie. Angela Basset as Miss Helen will move your heart, John Cusack as a liberal Catholic priest who grew up in the neighborhood (and is based on real-life Father Michael Pfleger) will stir up your outraged sense of justice, Jennifer Hudson will make you weep (oh, there's one scene that just her and the swish-swish of a scrub brush that will stay with me for a long time). As Lysistrata, Teyonah Parris is transcendent and Nick Cannon as Chi-Raq (the title isn't about him as a person, though - he took that nom de street from the location) astonished me. And there's a sniggering Wesley Snipes and don't forget Samuel L. Jackson as the honest-to-Zeus Greek chorus, guiding us through the action. (And keep an eye on his canes.)

Chi-Raq is a harsh movie. But the fact that more Americans have been killed in Chicago in the last few years than were killed in the Iraq/Afghanistan wars is harsher. Lee's never been afraid to take on the troubling topic of black-on-black violence and in Chi-Raq, he's created a movie you ought to look straight in the eye.

Captain's Orders

Quick lesson - superhero movies are a particular sub-genre of the "action/adventure" movie category.  They are also notoriously easy to screw up, although you'd think that would not be the case.  However, it is not uncommon for filmmakers to lose sight of what makes a good movie when the modifier "superhero" is added in front of the noun "movie."  Good movies involve characters and plot - not just action sequences and VERY LOUD explosions.  All too often, filmmakers look at comic books, think "Aha! Built-in audience," and get lazy.

I am almost ridiculously pleased to announce that is not the case with Captain America: The Winter Soldier.  Not only do I recommend you go see this movie on the big screen as a great example of a superhero movie, I think Cap 2 (as I shall call it from here on) is just a great movie, period. As in "full stop."

Why?  Why did this one work and other big-budget attempts (Elektra, Catwoman, and Green Lantern spring to mind, but oh - there are others) thud so terribly?  Easy.  Story.  Character.  Relationships.  Dialogue.  Mind you, Cap's a tough character to sell in our cynical world, because he's just so good.  (In that regard, he's a little like Superman, another superhero that studios have had a hard time handling.)  Cap is us at our very best, only he's at that "the best" level all the time.  He's tough, yet kind and he can make the hard call, but isn't a bully.  He is the living embodiment of our highest ideals - including freedom, justice, and equality for all under the law.  How do you not make that a cardboard cutout do-gooder?

Well, you do it by casting Chris Evans, a decision that deserves to go down in history as a time when a casting director just flat-out got it right.  (You can read about how reluctant Evans was originally to sign a multi-picture deal here.  Makes sense, especially given his experience being Johnny Storm of the Fantastic Four - a less than stellar two-picture outing. Also, he's got to stay in absolute top physical shape throughout this contract due to the grueling filming schedule.)  This movie demands that Evans be rock-solid in his principles, yet able to blithely quip with Black Widow (Scarlett Johansson, who really needs her own franchise) about his lack of a dating life.  Cap is a man out of time and there's a heartbreaking scene with his "best girl" in which is brought to dazzling life.  To Peggy Carter (Haley Atwell, who is scheduled to have her own TV series as Peggy), the war was about 70 years ago.  To Cap, who could still model for a recruiting poster, the war was about three weeks ago.  His lovely Peggy is wrinkled, fragile, and her memory isn't what once it was - but she's still his "best girl."  Evans plays this scene with tenderness, heartbreak, and resolve.

Comic movies also can be (and this one is) quite subversive.  So many people don't expect anything aside from an entertaining shoot-em-up that you can slip some deeper ideas in.  In Cap 2, while Cap is literally the poster boy for the American way, he's got questions about things, and when he asks them, it's the audience who needs to answer them.  Do you know who your friends are?  How far will you go to save a friend from darkness?  What balance are you willing to strike between messy freedom and sterile order?  Is being safe better than being independent?  And just whose hand is on the switch? Do you trust that hand? This is not a simple "good guys win" movie.

There's much more to say, but I don't want to spoil the movie; this is one I want you to see. (Stay through the credits, even without Phil Coulson.) Cap 2 takes its inspiration from the "Winter Soldier" storyline scripted by Ed Brubaker (he has a tiny part in the film as "Scientist #2).  In this film, we meet Zola (Toby Jones) and learn that patience can be fertile soil for nefarious plots.  We see that threats can be candy-coated as well as armor-coated.  Robert Redford shows he still has chops and Samuel L. Jackson reminds us that he's never lost his.  Casting Anthony Mackie as the Falcon - brilliant!  (That reminds me - I've got to buy Marvin Gaye's Trouble Man . . .)  And we learn that, hopefully, we've all got the guts to be Launch Tech #1.  Captain's orders . . .

"Trouble Man," from the album of the same name, by Marvin Gaye