Spike Lee joints have a habit of turning up whenever we need them most. He is undoubtedly one of the most political filmmakers working today, and yet as much as his movies interact with the eras they were created in they also consistently retain a timeless quality. Da 5 Bloods continues this trend and commits to it even further, using the political turmoil of the 1960’s and 70’s as a lens through which we can view the racial politics of present-day America.
Four elderly African American veterans of the Vietnam War return to the site they fought on fifty years prior to unearth a treasure chest they discovered and buried. The fifth member of their group, Norman, was killed in combat, and as they plunge back into the jungles of Vietnam, they come to realise how much the war and trauma of America’s racist past still lives on in their minds. Spike Lee’s familiar direct and didactic style emerges here as the four veterans remember black soldiers who died performing acts of valour for their country, and yet who are seldom remembered as time has worn on. Understanding that when they return to society they won’t receive any of the recognition that their white counterparts would have lavished upon them, the group claims the treasure as reparations.
Indeed, each of our four leads have dealt with their experiences in different ways and ruminate over the disproportionate number of African American men who were sent over to fight for a nation that wouldn’t recognise their sacrifices. “We fought in an immoral war that wasn’t ours, for rights we didn’t have” laments Paul as he faces his own mortality. Played by Delroy Lindo in a bombastic performance that will certainly receive awards recognition, he is the closest thing we get to a protagonist in Da 5 Bloods. His arc sends him down the road of Fred C. Dobbs in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, obsessing over his newfound wealth to the point of self-degradation. The similarities are hammered home as one character almost directly quotes the film: “We don’t need no stinkin’ official badges!”
Da 5 Bloods is rife with these references to classic and New Wave Hollywood, from the “Ride of the Valkyries” evoking Apocalypse Now to the final lines of The Bridge on the River Kwai closing out a vicious conflict – “Madness! Madness!” Each of these movies explore the breaking of the human spirit under extreme conditions, when faced with either the heartless brutality of war or the temptation of wealth and power. By incorporating them into his screenplay, Lee strengthens the resonance of these themes, and emphasises the PTSD that manifests in each veteran.
The buried treasure is the light at the end of a hard road, and this goal takes on different meanings for all of them. Paul rants to himself as he submits to his darker impulses, staring down the camera and implicating us in his anger. Lee makes this character a vocal Trump supporter whose belief system appears to stem from a cynical recognition that the only way he can win is by solely looking out for himself. When he finally sees a path to success, his desire for something greater eventually overpowers his own brotherhood. The political scope of Da 5 Bloods is sometimes a little too broad, but here Lee acutely homes in on society’s failure of the black people who built their country, and the psychological torment they have suffered as a result.
Outside the central group of veterans and the various conflicts that emerge in the past and present, Da 5 Bloods jams a few too many ideas into its story. Early in the film we meet a group of activists who clear landmines, and their re-appearance later on is a bit too timely to maintain suspension of disbelief. Although their presence reinforces the themes of the war’s effects still lasting to the present day, they are never really given the time to develop in any meaningful way. Although we have previously seen Spike Lee use an ambitious scope to effectively strengthen his dynamic style, here the number of subplots make the movie feel a bit too sprawling for its own good.
None of this is to say that Da 5 Bloods lacks nuance, because at its core Lee is genuinely interesting in empathising with and deconstructing the psyche of black war veterans. He engages with political conservatism and explores its roots in African American communities in a way that he hasn’t attempted before, and although the film takes a clear anti-war stance, Lee still takes time to praise the efforts of individual soldiers who have previously gone unrecognised in mainstream culture. As we have moved further away from the conflict, Vietnam war movies have become scarcer and more frequently criticised for their lack of inspiration, but with his own unique style of didacticism and bold visual artistry, Lee proves there is still plenty of baggage there left to interrogate.
