Year: 2020
Director: Spike Lee
Country: US
Language: English
Do you like Treasure of the Sierra Madre? Are you excited about the Black Lives Matter Movement? Then Spike Lee has a film for you! Da 5 Bloods is a live wire trickling with Spike Lee's usual electricity as it exposes society's unequal treatment of African Americans, especially when it pertains to war-time. Hollywood rarely ever shows a POC in a war film, even though they represented a large % of soldiers. This is a disgrace that Lee attempts to correct in this picture.
Four African American vets battle the forces of man and nature when they return to Vietnam seeking the remains of their fallen squad leader and the gold fortune he helped them hide.
Da 5 Bloods opens with footage of Muhammad Ali from 1978, telling members of the press that he won’t fight in Vietnam because “they didn’t rob me of my nationality.” Lee’s use of this real-world imagery creates a conversation, but it doesn't come off as preachy & it still maintains a high degree of entertainment. Lee's story is accessible, yet doesn't follow convention too closely as old wounds don't get healed, but rather fester until moods boil over.
Though not quite as epic feeling as Apocalypse Now, Da 5 Bloods has the tone and imagery of a war movie. We see broken bodies, dangerous jungles, boats going down river. We get foreshadowing dialgue & a slowly foreboding atmosphere. Lee shows us the ugly truth of war, shocking viewers with realistic depictions of atrocities and bloodshed.
Da 5 Bloods is the 2020 Best Picture that won't win Best Picture. Blackkklansman was a great movie, but it lost to The Green Book. Do the Right Thing was even better and it lost to Driving Miss Daisy. I found this film quite profound & I urgently ask viewers to see Lee's masterful work immediately on Netflix.
No comments:
Post a Comment