Da 5 Bloods - review

One of my biggest movie pet peeves is when people opine that Do the Right Thing (or any Spike Lee film really) is “sadly still relevant” to whichever current civil unrest is rocking America. Lee’s masterpiece may have been released in 1989, but it would be naive to think it’s only concerned with 1989 problems, as opposed to the awful fundamental flaws woven into every aspect of society, as present now as they were hundreds, if not thousands of years ago. Like saying Einstein’s theories of gravity are “still relevant today”. Of course they are; they are a universal constant that permeate all our lives, whether we notice their effect or not.       

To wit, it would be both obvious and insufficient to call Lee’s new film Da 5 Bloods “perfect for our present moment” or “the film we need right now”. It’s not about right now, it’s net is cast wide in terms of both subject and theme, including the often downplayed parts of the Vietnam war, the history of African American liberation, the traumas of fighting for a country that won’t fight for you and the ripple effects of all of the above, plus a great deal more. Lee has always packed his films to the brim, but it’s impressive just how dense each component of Da 5 Bloods manages to be while maintaining its momentum and flow.

Because it’s also an extremely watchable movie, with some of Lee’s sharpest, liveliest and most engaging filmmaking in years. The banter and vibes between the main cast are supremely easy-going while the numerous action sequences that punctuate proceedings are well staged both dramatically and visually. There’s also a lot of technical trickery involving aspect ratios and film stocks that never comes off as flashy or indulgent, by always serving the story and enhancing the aforementioned thematic richness.        

All this comes alongside the usual Spike Lee flourishes, historical footage of black activists and war atrocities, fourth wall breaking monologues from characters looking straight into the lens and sophisticated critique on previous movies, the stories they do and do not tell. He’s on top form here, displaying a masterful understanding of cinematic commentary, playing with our shared cultural references to deepen our understanding of them and the events they depict.   

   

He’s also got quite a cast to play with.  Delroy Lindo, Clarke Peters, Norm Lewis and a joyful Isiah Whitlock Jr are the four surviving bloods, with Jonathan Majors tagging along as David, the son of Lindo’s Paul. Chadwick Boseman is the Idealised fallen leader of the bloods original troop, appearing in memories as someone too good to be true. It’s a great bit of casting, playing off Boseman’s recent turn as Black Panther to give him extra implied gravitas. But the show belongs to Lindo, who plays the most haunted and complex of the surviving veterans, donning a MAGA hat that acts as a sign of moral corruption for whomever it’s passed to. His portrayal of a man fracturing under the weight of trauma, and the increasing dissolution with his country and fellow men, is gripping, textured and filled with pathos.

The cast is rounded out by a group of white aid workers (Paul Walter Hauser, Melanie Thierry, Jasper Paakkonen) and various locals (Johnny Tri Nguyen, Le Y Lan, Nguyen Ngoc Lam) who form a refreshingly multifaceted depiction of Vietnamese culture, the oppressive past it has endured and the modern nation it has evolved into. 

A lot of the film comes to revolve around that idea of recovering from a fraught past. The bloods search for gold as a kind of reparations, a way to make their sacrifices worthwhile. The pursuit leads them back into a quagmire of pain and grievances, but as with Do the Right Thing all those years ago, Lee allows for the faintest possibility of hope. Heck, maybe that really is what we need right now.