Da 5 Bloods (2020)
(Netflix Streaming, October 2021) Don’t misunderstand me when I say that Spike Lee could have had an exemplary career as a pure entertainment filmmaker: He’s one of the most vital voices in American cinema and he wouldn’t be Spike Lee without constant engagement on social issues. But as many entries on his filmography suggest (25th hour, Inside Man, Oldboy), he could have made it solely on technical competence in delivering entertaining films. But his special genius lies elsewhere, in combining this entertainer’s instinct with works of social import. His latest two films, BlacKkKlansman and Da 5 Bloods, end up being among the best of his career in blending accessible narratives with pointed social issues. His latest film begins with exactly the right interview snippet: Mohammed Ali discussing how “I ain’t got no quarrel with those Vietcong,” thus putting the central idea of the film right up there: why would black soldiers serve a country that marginalized them so much? The way to illustrate this tension goes through a hard-to-resist premise: what if American soldiers went back to Vietnam fifty years later to find the remains of their commanding officer… and a crate filled with gold? The early moments of Da 5 Bloods present themselves as something of a romp, as our elderly veterans (led by Delroy Lindo) take in the sights of a westernized Saigon and head over to their adventure. But pay attention to the flashbacks and the foreshadowing about landmines because the film becomes darker in a single moment and its second half is a far more thrilling contemporary adventure in which, as usual, finding the gold isn’t nearly as difficult as keeping it. Jean Reno has a small but enjoyable role, while Chadwick Boseman makes a remarkable appearance (one of his last) and Hollywood newcomer Sandy Hương Phạm provides a remarkable emotional linchpin to the film. It gets overly violent at times (even though: hey, it’s a war film) but engrossing throughout even as it switches gears as it goes on. It’s a really good film, and doesn’t skimp on the American racial divide either. Da 5 Bloods is another success for Spike Lee, who seems to be getting a second or even third wind as a filmmaker.