In Netflix's "Da 5 Bloods," Spike Lee takes his audience on a journey across the decades, putting a spotlight on the Black veteran experience in a way few filmmakers ever have. In doing so, he successfully links a film nominally about the Vietnam War to today's cultural battles.
The film follows four Vietnam War veterans who call themselves Da Bloods — Otis (Clarke Peters), Eddie (Norm Lewis), Melvin (Isiah Whitlock Jr.) and Paul (an absolutely gripping Delroy Lindo) — as they return to Vietnam to retrieve the remains of their fallen comrade and the fifth Blood, Stormin' Norman (Chadwick Boseman). Norm died in Vietnam, but his guidance and teachings on Black history and the Black experience have remained with his brothers throughout their lives.
Lee's film is sweeping and gritty — almost in juxtaposition to his picturesque World War II feature, "Miracle at St. Anna." Opening with Muhammad Ali's speech on why he opposed the Vietnam War, "Da 5 Bloods" tells the story of the Black veteran in a way that only a Spike Lee Joint can. Though this is the story of a group trip, it's mostly centered around Paul — a MAGA hat-wearing, enraged Black man suffocating under the weight of his post-traumatic stress disorder and the circumstances surrounding Norm's death. Though he spouts ignorant rhetoric and speaks openly about voting for Donald Trump, Lee and Lindo never allow the character to become a caricature. Paul wears his fury, pain, paranoia and trauma like combat gear. Lee makes it clear that America made Paul into this.
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