Controversial Spike Lee Movie "Chiraq" Filming in the Sloop

A reader writes:

Looks like The Shrine on the 2100 block of S Wabash is another location being used for the Spike Lee movie Chiraq.

The controversial "Chiraq" title has gotten a ton of publicity around town.  Frankly we understand the furor, but also think a more tempered perspective is warranted.

We recently read an article in the New York Times that provided some interesting thoughts on the title:

“A lot of people have opinions about the so-called title of the film who again, know nothing about the film,” Mr. Lee said. “Way, way back when I made ‘Do the Right Thing,’ there were people who said this film would cause riots all across America, that black people were going to run amok. They wrote a whole bunch of things.

“But those people ended up being on the wrong side of history,” he continued, “And the same is going to happen in Chicago. They are going look stupid and end up on the wrong side of history. We’re here for peace.”

To the people who have expressed displeasure over the movie, he said: “Wait until the movie comes out. You don’t like it, you don’t like it, but see it first.”

Also at Mr. Lee’s side was John Cusack, who grew up in a Chicago suburb and will appear in the film. “I love my city of Chicago,” he said, taking the microphone. “And I would never do anything to hurt it.”

While that's easy for them to say right now to quell public outcry, it also seems fair.  We shall see.

Also of interest in the NYT article was this paragraph that discusses an interesting premise:

Mr. Lee, who declined to be interviewed, has not publicly confirmed the title of the movie, but city officials who have met with him said he had told them that he intended to call it “Chiraq.” The film, Mr. Lee has said, is focused on gun violence on the South Side; some reports, unconfirmed by Mr. Lee, offer the intriguing possibility that the film is a comedic reimagining of “Lysistrata,” the ancient Greek tale by Aristophanes in which women withhold sex to force the men to end the Peloponnesian War.

That's definitely not what we were expecting the movie "Chiraq" to be about, but if it is sounds pretty provocative.

(Hat tip:  DN!)