I saw Spike Lee’s new masterpiece Chi-raq last Monday. The
next day, I called the Grand Lake Theater owner and got him to donate 30
tickets. We (Oakland Parents Together) are inviting the parents we work with in
West Oakland to a showing on Saturday.
The movie is not just a masterpiece, it’s a revolutionary
masterpiece. Please go see it forthwith.
It’s a comedy about
urban/gang violence – and world wide violence. Who can do that? A comedy, with
deeply tragic moments.
It’s also a blueprint for revolution, metaphorically, at
least. I think the idea of a sex strike by women in a society that is barraged
with sexual images on an hourly basis is probably unrealistic.
Full disclosure, I wrote a hip-hop update of the Lysistrata
story about three years ago called Lysistrata in the Hood. I doubt Spike stole my idea because only about ten
people read it. Reading it now I’m a little embarrassed by the old white guy
version of hip-hop language. But with the right translator into authentic black English,
it could be worth circulating, a PG-13 version of the story to expose it to a
younger audience.
A comedy about
urban/gang violence – and world wide violence told in verse! Hip-hop verse.
A musical comedy. And it works!
The man’s a genius. Malcolm
X is the best film of at least the decade. Do the Right Thing was a loving portrait of a vibrant Black
community under pressure. He – Spike – is as insightful of the intricacies of
race as James Baldwin.
So I’m not going to review the movie. The whole idea criticism when it comes to art is
largely a crock of shit. You like what you like. But I will say GO SEE THIS
MOVIE NOW! Also, in an ingeniously revolutionary move, the film, will be
released to stream on Amazon in a couple weeks. So see it in the theaters this
week to support the film and then we can have community showings as fundraisers
for Bernie. Spike has all but endorsed Bernie. It would be
great for Bernie himself to be seen as a promoter of the film.
White Knight! Wonderful to see/feel your presence on the WWW.
ReplyDeleteTnx old friend.
ReplyDelete