right to rise usa is responsible for the ntent of this message. karen: today on "cityline," hot films with heavy topics. behind the films to get you ready for showtime. [captioning performed by the national captioning institute, which is responsible for its caption content and accuracy. visit ncicap.org] hello, everyone. i am karen holmes ward, and we' re finding of facts behind the films today. big pictures, big stories. first up, spike lee' s story behind an old greek myth. "chi- raq" is doing well at the box office and is amazon' s first feature-length film, but it is

people in chicago are protesting the film and its title, which compares the city of chicago to iraq. >> this is an emergency. >> homicide in chicago and hanoi have surpassed the death toll of american special forces in iraq. >> welcome to chi-raq! >> land of pain, misery, and strife. >> everybody got a man banging and slanging. >> all for the bang bang. >> it all started with a gorgeous -- >> what' s up? >> a woman like no other. >> you just try taking way they guns. >> my gun go boom, i will make sure a trojan end up in the neck.

>> i will deny all rights of access. >> i will deny all rights of access for interest. >> had them all take a solid of -- solemn oath. stop the murder madness or there would be no more poke. >> the situation is out of control because i' m in front of an empty stripper pole. >> oh, snap! >> gon' make sure these. it down these guns -- full' s put

>> p eace! karen: "chi-raq " is out into theaters just as the city of chicago as an due to the recent indictment of police officer jason vandyke, who shot and killed laquan mcdonald. here with me is michael curry of the national and naacp board of directors. what was her impression of the film -- your impression of the film? important in that it touched on a lot of issues. in some cases it was sensory

filings in chicago, national violence in general, and policing issues as well. for makers have a license to tell their creative story so folks are seeing it and generates a conversation, that is a good thing. karen: spike lee' s films never really followed the hollywood formula. they' ve you' re often wonder action or the other, and this film is certainly a part of that path for mr. lee. michael: as i was sitting watching the film, i thought it was accommodation of "malcolm x," "school daze," "jungle fever," and " do the right thing" all in one. there is controversy over to realizing violence in chicago. i' ve seen interviews with spike where he accepts that people see it that way but it is his story. karen: there have been stories

chicago and many chicagoa ns are not happy with the movie because they think it unfairly retraced the city, but news reports are not painting chicago in the best light. you are in contact with the naacp there. michael: we are constantly talking with the national office and boots on the ground there. folks feel like this is the moment. i would compare these instance -- incidents and whether it is baltimore, ferguson, chicago, extinct, dormant, or active good right now in chicago we have an active volcano. folks are wanting to challenge policing of the patterns and practices using the department of justice terms within the city. and the treatment of communities of color, and the underlying issues of poverty and the drugs and guns and accessibility of guns, all of that boiling over right now. it is a critical moment to see whether we are ready to face that.

awful video of laquan mcdonald being shot in the streets, but another video has been released, and we have more information being released just in the last week about incidents of torture by some chicago police officers and other things that would half -- why has visited chicago done something about this -- why hasn' t of the city of chicago done something about this all these years? some people say for 20, 30 years. michael: one, and i try to remind folks, chicago is just one of many cities. if you look at the u.s. department of justice' s reports on many cities, ferguson, the reports they are found in baltimore and other cities, this is not isolated to chicago. when we look at the data reflecting back five years from now, chicago may be one of the more egregious cities, but the bottom line is are you violating the rights of folks, are you torturing folks, are you using

necessary? in the case of laquan mcdonald, it is clear that not only did they use deadly force, but then the light on the police report in the hours and weeks after that. karen: and paid the family $5 million, presumably, as folks look back, was that hush money? michael: absolutely. within months of the incident, which is unheard of. clearly it speaks to a systemic issue in the chicago police department and going right up to the mayor' s office that this is acceptable behavior, and quite likely, they brushed it under the rug. the other incident was eight days later, when another young man was shot and the video came out running away from the police . this should be disturbing to every american that embraces justice that appreciates that democracy should work for everyone. it is a critical moment for all of us to stand up. karen: what do you think should be the next us for chicago --

they' re a manual fire the police chief, the head of the internal affairs division -- mayor emanuel fire to the police chief and the head of the internal affairs division. michael: the department of into investigative police department. they announced two days ago that the department of justice will be in there and looking at training, looking at accountability, the investigatory process from the internal affairs process. and then the use of force and the use of deadly force. the other issue, mayor emanuel announced a task force that our former governor, governor patrick, will serve on, and i feel confident that his wisdom out of the department of justice can he will ask the critical questions, he will challenge the system to make sure that whatever the solutions are, we can change the culture of use that happens in that city. karen: michael curry, thanks for joining us.

" over the holiday season. next, nonfiction look at civil war in africa -- an unflinching look at civil war in africa.

, speaking of awards and gaining oscar buzz, is "beasts of no nation" starring iris el ba and movie newcomer abraham attah. it is an unflinching depiction

innocence of a child. take a look. >> what is this thing doing here? what are you doing here? who is responsible for this thing? what are they calling you? i save your life. i saved your life. all of you that have seen your family killed, you know how

for the weapons of this for back in the hands of you. the young, the powerful. i will always protect you as you are my son, and a son always protects a father. my m en, you will remember me. you are my family. are you ready to fight? >> yes , sir! >> victory? >> yes, sir!

karen: well, does this film continue hollywood' s usual portrayal of africa in a dark light, or does it raise awareness of some of the atrocities that are often overlooked in immediate? -- in the media? joining us is walter carrington, former ambassador to senegal and nigeria. the ambassador has a good understanding of the conflicts going on on the ground in africa. you had a chance to see this film. what was your opinion of the truths portrayed there? and master carringto ambassador carrington: i thought it was a very good war film and it gave insight into the recruitment of boy soldiers, and although the country is not named, it is obviously based on

sierra leone, and i thought it was a very good film and, actually, it had a great documentary quality, much more than fictional quality. in that way i thought it was a powerful film. karen: and the through the eyes of this young man who loses his parents early on in the film, and it kind of details how he becomes the t often think about the young kids, the boys, the girls, the conflict. that is, of course, the great tragedy. in this case you are seeing a young boy who becomes a soldier. on the other hand, now, with the

nigeria with boko haram, and the kidnapping of the girls from the girls school, and using young girls now as suicide bombers, so that these wars affect young people, children, very much. it steals their childhood, and that adds to the overall tragedy of this relationship. karen: and some of these countries in africa in which there is conflict, is becoming a child soldier the only avenue left to some of these orphaned kids? other humanitarian agencies on the ground that can pull them into a different direction? ambassador carrington: it is not the question of a choice. as in this film, this young boy was struggling into becoming a soldier. it is not something that these

girls. this is -- karen: this is not free choice. ambassador carrington: not at all. karen: you are kidnapped. ambassador carrington: exactly. karen: what do you think audiences should take away from this film as they are watching it? ambassador carrington: one of the problems is that there are so few films about africa and i hope people will not think that this is sort of typical of what is going on in africa. the problem in sierra leone, the civil war there, the civil war in two or three other countries, but it is not the norm. there are other problems with africa, but it is not a wars.

take away from this film -- the roger message, and the problem is that on enough -- there are not enough good films being made happening now. karen: and so we should see more films coming out of nollywood -- nigerian hollywood, if you will -- that portray all aspects. ambassador carrington: n ollywood is something quite different. i compare it to the lifetime movie channel here. come out of there that i' ve seen that deal with really socially relevant issues. they are very good in understanding what is going on in everyday life.

something like "beasts of no nation" as opposed -- or rwanda." karen: they are lighter movies. ambassador carrington: there are great african filmmakers and of all that takes place in looking of also every year -- african film festival that takes faso every year. karen: maybe we will list them on our website. , the will smith film " concussion" is stirring up controversy about the nfl and

karen: welcome back. dr. bennet omalu is an immigrant way contact sports would be played and change forever. now the story is in "concussion take a look. >> when i was a boy, heaven was . you could be anything, you could do anything. i' discovered this. >> you don' t speak for them. i found a

repetitive head trauma chokes the brain. to you. you have turned on the lights of their biggest demand. -- biggest boogeyman. >> you are going to war with the corporation that owns day of the week. >> they have to listen to us, as big as they are. >> you have no idea how bad this could get. >> i have to keep going. >> they want you to say you made it all up. >> they continue to deny my work. men continue to die. >> sometimes in life you are asked to leave it alone. >> >> who are you? >> tell the truth! tilde

karen: one mit student is taking own hands, helping young athletes train smarter and safer through innovative technology. formed by ben harvatine , who wrestled when he was in school. what did you think when you heard the film was coming out? ben: definitely excited. one of the biggest challenges we have seen is that not everyone is on the same page with us as far as how concussions were good this can help the public dialogue around it. karen: you are an athlete and former wrestler and experienced a bit of head trauma firsthand. what happened to you?

growing up but nothing compared to what happened to me in college. it is different from the rest, because what was people think of a concussion, they think of a single big impact. this one happened at practice. it wasn' t a single hit that did it. it was a lot of small hits that led to the injury. karen: you believe in this cte? ben: yeah, absolutely. there' s a lot of meaningful evidence coming and that this is a real problem for more than just professional athletes. karen: why do you think the nfl is try to shut this whole thing down? i mean, obviously answer, but what is your view? ben: there' s a lot of money involved here and also how ingrained football, pro football , is in society, something that orders on religious fanaticism for some people. karen: let' s talk about what you were doing to fight the fight. let'

what is it? ben: a small sensor that can be attached to any piece of athletic equipment, football helmet, it tracks every impact as they are happening. it analyzes them. it throws alerts to the athletes in the event there is potentially dangerous impact. it takes all the other impact data, helps them build the sport safety statistics around you can track how at risk week, month to month. karen: does this help to identify a concussion as it happens immediately or is it something that has to be tracked over time? sensor can diagnose a concussion. they are diagnosed in a systematic way by trained medical professionals. what we can do is identify situations where it is likely a concussion could occur and get

immediately to verify if an injury happened. the worst thing in athlete can do is continue to play and be exposed to additional impact. karen: you have a kickstarter campaign. how is that going? have you checked with the nfl? ben: we were able to hit our goal on kickstarter, get the up and running. it has been a really exciting process. as far as the nfl goes, we have been focused more on k12 athletes than professional athletes so far. karen: benjamin, thank you for being here today. it is wonderful when you are doing to help stem the tide. ben: thank you. karen: learn more about everything on today' s program by logging on to our "cityline" page at wcvb.com and follow us on twitter and facebook. thank you. have a great rest of your day,