‘Da 5 Bloods’ a captivating and timely Spike Lee Joint
Fresh off the Oscar-winning “BlacKkKlansman,” director Spike Lee returns with the fiery and urgent war film, “Da 5 Bloods.”
The movie, available exclusively on Netflix, focuses on the story of four African-American veterans who return to Vietnam years later in order to locate the remains of their fallen comrade (as well as a stash of gold).
As to be expected with Spike Lee, “Da 5 Bloods” is about much more than buried treasure. Lee utilizes flashbacks, archival footage, fourth wall-breaking monologues, signature camera flourishes and a MAGA hat to tell a deeply resonant story about systemic racial inequality and the psychological devastation of war.
It’s bold, ambitious and always a little out of control. In other words, “Da 5 Bloods” is quintessential Spike Lee.
Delroy Lindo, Clarke Peters, Isaiah Witlock Jr. and Norm Lewis play the former soldiers returning to Vietnam to locate the gold and their former squad leader, Norman (played by Chadwick Boseman in flashbacks). Though all four men suffer from PTSD, Lindo’s Paul appears particularly unsteady, especially when his son, David (Jonathan Majors from last year’s excellent “Last Black Man in San Francisco”), abruptly joins the group before they all head off into the jungle.
Despite the ages of its four leads, “Da 5 Bloods” is a war film, with the stars of the movie appearing alongside Boseman in the film’s early flashbacks with minimal “de-aging” makeup. It’s a choice (perhaps predicated on budget limitations) that could be distracting to some audiences, though it does serve to underline the leads’ haunted performances. These men are constantly reliving the violence in their minds, even decades later, so it makes sense to see them “as they are” alongside their youthful fallen leader, Norman.
It takes a good hour for “Da 5 Bloods” to settle into the jungle. The men do find Norman and the gold, but they also find new violence, and every conflict brings Paul closer to a full-on psychological breakdown.
Lindo, star of many Spike Lee films and one of the more underrated actors of the past three decades, gives a towering and unforgettable performance as Paul. Though relentlessly haunted by his past, Paul is a survivor, even at the cost of his own sanity. “Da 5 Bloods” hinges on two Lindo-centric scenes in particular - one harrowing sequence that involves a tripped landmine, and another where Paul marches alone through the jungle, talking to himself before turning his attention directly to the camera.
In addition to Paul, “Da 5 Bloods” carves out effective arcs for Jonathan Major’s David and Clarke Peters’ Otis, who has a subplot involving a reunion with his Vietnamese lover and his newly discovered daughter. The other two “Bloods,” though fleshed out and well-performed, have less to do, and the film throws several other characters into the mix, notably a trio of activists working to clear old landmines from the jungle. It’s a bit too much at times, but Lee eventually finds a way to utilize them in telling Paul’s story.
Despite being a self-contained adventure about Vietnam, leave it to Lee to make a film that speaks directly to the current political climate. “Da 5 Bloods” makes bold connections, and there are few things in cinema more exciting than an energized and enraged Spike Lee.
“Da 5 Bloods” works as both a harrowing adventure film and as a fiery polemic. Once again, Lee makes the case that the system isn’t broken. It was designed this way.
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Tyler Wilson can be reached at twilson@cdapress.com. He’s been writing professionally about movies since 2000 and is the co-host of Old Millennials Remember Movies, available everywhere you get podcasts and at OldMillennialsRemember.com.
