On Dec. 4, a controversial movie entitled Chi-Raq directed by Spike Lee, will be playing in theaters. The movie is a retelling of the ancient Greek play Lysistrata by Aristophanes.

In the comedic play Lysistrata, a woman with a mission to end the Peloponnesian War forms a plan to convince other women of Greece to not have sex with any men until the violence stopped. This caused the men and women to enter into a battle of the sexes. Chi-Raq depicts a similar scenario, replacing the women of Greece with the women of Chicago and the Peloponnesian War with black on black crime.

“I thought [the trailer] was good cinematography wise, like all the colors and all, and it seems interesting enough for me to actually go see it,” senior Hibo Ali said

Chi-Raq is not the first controversial racial movie that Lee has produced. Bamboozled depicted

a modern day minstrel show, and before its release, some thought that Do the Right Thing would start race riots.

Many residents from Chicago do not enjoy the name “Chiraq.” They see the name as a bad representation of their city. The trailer has a comedic, satirical atmosphere, though it seemed to have a more serious tone towards the end.

“Honestly, when I first watched the trailer I automatically knew it would be controversial. I agree with the fact that the topic is way too significant to be approached in a satirical way, and comparing it to a completely different situation (Iraq) doesn’t help.” senior Idman Dahir said.