Spike Lee's Musical Gang War Film 'Chi-Raq' Drops Powerful First Trailer

It’s based on the ancient Greek comedy Lysistrata, but the above first look at Spike Lee’s upcoming film Chi-Raq might remind you more a more contemporary classic: Lee’s 1989 drama, Do the Right Thing.

The film, the first original release by Amazon Studios, takes the Brooklyn-born filmmaker to Chicago, where he tackles gang violence and political unrest with a cast that includes Nick Cannon, Angela Bassett, Wesley Snipes, Jennifer Hudson, Samuel L. Jackson and John Cusack. The footage shown is entirely lyrical, giving a hip-hop musical edge to the timely material.

Shot over the summer, Chi-Raq stars Teyonah Parris (Dear White People, Mad Men) as an aggrieved resident of the bullet-riddled South Side of Chicago, who leads a very unique rebellion against all the violence: Until the city’s men stop treating the streets like a battlefield, the women will refuse to have sex with them. The unlikely policy proposal goes into effect in tandem with the efforts of an inner city priest (John Cusack), a character based on Father Michael Pfleger, a long-time activist living and working in Chicago.

When the film was announced this spring, it drew immediate condemnation from Chicago Mayor Rahm Emmanuel, who did not take kindly to the image produced by marrying the name of his city with war-torn Iraq. He called Lee to his office soon after, though the director did not back down.

“He’s not gonna bully me. My tactic with the mayor—any bully—is to come out swinging,” Lee recently told Chicago Magazine. “This film is righteous. The number one goal of anybody involved in this film—in front of the camera, behind the camera—was to save lives. Everybody involved knew that going in, and knew it even further while we were making the film. Save lives. This film is about more than Chicago. This film is about the America we are living in today.”

Chi-Raq hits theaters on December 4 in limited release, then streams exclusively on Amazon.com.