"Da 5 Bloods" is yet another Spike Lee masterpiece

Netflix wins. Again.

While other studios are slugging it out against each other in The Streaming Wars, with Disney+ low on original content, Apple TV+ non-existent on library, and HBO Max not available on Amazon Fire Stick or Roku, the granddaddy of them all sat back and dropped another service-enhancing piece of original content, this time from noted auteur Spike Lee, director of cinematic classics like Do The Right Thing, Mo Better Blues, Malcolm X, Inside Man, and most recently BlacKkKlansman, which finally earned him an Oscar last year for Best Adapted Screenplay.

This new film, Da 5 Bloods, which tells the story of a group of black Vietnam veterans who return to the country in search of their fallen brother’s remains, and a hidden stash of gold, is not only Spike Lee at his best as a filmmaker, but also might be the timeliest film he’s ever made to date. Anyone who has followed Lee’s career knows that his films largely provide a voice for the black community in America, to tell stories unique to that experience and culture, while also taking the opportunity to teach some black history along the way for those who may not know about it.

The fact that his latest effort released on June 12, in the midst of explosive racial tension and protests on behalf of Black Lives Matter against police brutality and systemic racism, is almost poetic in sentiment. Certainly not a planned event, as ‘Bloods’ was on the docket for release long before the tragic murder of George Floyd in Minneapolis occurred, but it could not have released at a more appropriate time at all for everyone involved in the struggle.

Da 5 Bloods follows four black men in their older age, who tell of their experience in Vietnam as soldiers during and after the war, specifically from the perspective of black men, which to date is now the only Vietnam war film to be told from that perspective, and it’s an important perspective to follow here because it shines a light on the complicated relationship between black soldiers and the United States of America, which sadly isn’t that much less complicated in 2020 than it was in the 1960’s and 70’s.

Indeed, the four soldiers we follow in this film, Otis(Clarke Peters), Eddie(Norm Lewis), Melvin(Isaiah Whitlock Jr.) and Paul(Delroy Lindo), all speak of their struggles of fighting a war in a different land for a country that didn’t fight for them when it came to their own civil rights at home. As they reminisce and honor the memory of their fallen commander, “Stormin’ Norm” Holloway(Chadwick Boseman), the men reflect on just how painful, forgotten and in many cases dismissed the struggle of black soldiers in Vietnam has been, in addition to the struggles of the black community itself. There’s a good amount of flashbacks here, but most of this story takes place in present day and one of the many messages presented here is the constant struggle of both sides, American and Vietnamese, still fighting a war that the boots on the ground never really started on either side, but now it has become part of who they are and how they live.

Just like with Martin Scorsese on The Irishman, Spike Lee is left to his own devices here and this film is 100% Forty Acres and Mule Filmworks quality. All of his signatures are in this movie, from his use of dynamic balance, stylistic dolly shots, and a balance of period appropriate music combined with another vibrant score from Terence Blanchard, who has scored twelve of Lee’s films over the years, this one being his thirteenth collaboration. Any questions about whether or not streaming services would restrict even Hollywood’s most acclaimed filmmakers on their projects is all but dead at this point. There is nothing about Da 5 Bloods that feels like it couldn’t have been a theatrical release with respect to production or story quality whatsoever. This is a Spike Lee Joint as much as anything else he has done for the traditional studios over the past 34 years.

The story and the editing, complete with black history facts scattered throughout it, contribute to that, but the biggest asset by far of this film is its cast, specifically Delroy Lindo in what might be his greatest performance to date as an actor. His portrayal of Paul, the most emotionally and mentally damaged of the four in the group, overcome with great anger, frustration, defiance and massive PTSD, is an absolute tour de force. You feel the entire gamut of emotions with his character throughout the movie. There are times when you’re angry at him, disappointed in him, overcome with joy for him, and ultimately come to pity him, all in the span of 2 hours and 35 minutes he’s interacting with his fellow bloods, as well as his young son David, played by Jonathan Majors.

This isn’t to discount, Peters, Lewis or Whitlock Jr’s performances as the other bloods, and definitely not Boseman’s moments as Stormin’ Norman, which are masterful themselves. This is a very strong cast from top to bottom, all the way to french actress Melanie Thierry’s role as Hedy Bouvier, Johnny Tri Nguyen as Vinh, and Veronica Ngo’s presence as Hanoi Hannah throughout the film. Everyone here supports the story and the main cast so well, and the messages are clear as crystal, as they are with any Spike Lee film dealing with the subject of race in America. Da 5 Bloods in the end is not just a film about the black experience in Vietnam, but about the future of the black experience as a whole and where it can go in the shadows of such strife and turmoil over the past several decades.

There are clear and present connections in this film to not only Black Lives Matter, but also pointed commentary on the current President of the United States, and it’s not for softies who can’t handle an opinion they may not like, though to be fair, the odds of anyone in that grouping even thinking of watching a movie about black Vietnam vets, from a black director, are likely incredibly low if not altogether imaginary.

That being said, though this isn’t a movie to recommend to everyone, there is an undercurrent of thinking that maybe it should be, given the subject matter and how much understanding we are all still struggling to discover on a cultural level, especially when it comes to reconciling our past issues. That is without question a hallmark of Spike Lee films throughout his career, and cinema is forever indebted to his work as an auteur.

If you are a fan of Lee’s work, Da 5 Bloods is not to be missed. If you’re not, still give it a chance and at the very least appreciate that the godfather of The Streaming Wars once again shows that it is fully capable of flexing its creative muscles and allowing some of Hollywood’s most dynamic filmmakers the freedom to do the same.