Da Five Bloods
*****
Da Five Bloods (Netflix)
This is a Spike Lee film, which was obviously made before the recent nationwide protests against police brutality and systemic racism but is another timely insight into this vital American movement. It is also another look at the Vietnam War, which was fought by an out of proportion large number of black American soldiers. That specter is shown also to be a major weight on the men depicted in the film.
Five black American veterans of the Vietnam War get together to return to modern day Vietnam in order to find the remains of their beloved black squad leader who heroically died in a gun battle during the war. The soldiers were also returning to reclaim a cache of very valuable gold bricks that they had found when their helicopter was shot down and their brave leader was killed. They believed they knew where to look and arranged the trip back to Vietnam.
The movie is about two and a half hours, which usually is a negative factor for us, but this one did grab and hold our attention for the duration.The cast is excellent and features Chadwick Boseman,Delroy Lindo, Jaspeer Kaaponen,Paul Walter Hauser,Jonathan Majors, Ngo Thanh Van, Jean Reno, Melanie Thierry, Clarke Peters, Norm Lewis, Isiah Whitlock Jr.,Giancarlo Esposito, Angela Davis, Johnny Tri Nguyen and Stokely Carmichael.
The flashback battle scenes were as good as any film that we have seen depicting this war. The characters were complex and held our interest. The bond between this band of black brothers was very moving. There was not only action and suspense but the film also contained several surprising turns. The acting was top notch all around. The questions and pain of the Viet Nam war are highlighted, just as acknowledging the ongoing injustices of today’s world come into excruciating focus. Spike Lee could snare some kudos when award season comes around this year. (2020)
Category: 5 Stars, Action, Drama, History, War | Tags: 2020, Angela Davis, Chadwick Boseman, Clarke Peters, Delroy Lindo, Giancarlo Esposito, Isiah Whitlock Jr., Jaspeer Kaaponen, Jean Reno, Johnny Tri Nguyen, Jonathan Majors, Melanie Thierry, Ngo Thanh Van, Norm Lewis, Paul Walter Hauser, Spike Lee, Stockely Carmichael One comment »
September 7th, 2020 at 9:32 PM
Based on the little we saw and heard about this movie, we didn’t think it would be one we would like. Since Susan and Michael rated it 5 stars, we decided to watch it.
And yes – you should see it also. It’s the most authentic representation of what war is like and how it impacts soldiers. Felt like a documentary with the added skill of Spike Lee. Difficult content, but not gory (except for a very few necessary scenes), and with realistic characters.