Da 5 Bloods (Netflix)

 

Da 5 Bloods (Netflix)

This war drama is not in the league of The Deer Hunter or Hacksaw Ridge, but the narrative from black soldier’s perspective is compelling. The film has a talented ensemble, a breakout performance by Delroy Lindo and  innovative cinematic devices. Lee incorporates social commentary which is a hallmark of his films.

 Four black Vietnamese veterans return to Vietnam to ostensibly recover the body of their troop leader “Stormin Norman” played by Chadwick Bosman. They also want to recover lost gold bars the CIA  intended to pay local insurgents to fight the Vietcong. Delroy Lindo’s character, Paul, suffers from PTSD which becomes more acute from returning to Vietnam. Delroy Lindo is not a household name. He is a “character actor” usually playing the heavy as a thug or a special operations commando. Here he  gives a forceful  performance of a tormented solder slowly sinking into paranoia. He forcefully conveys his inner terror from his past.

The other solders are Otis played by Clarke Peters, Eddie played by Norm Lewis and Melvin played by Isaiah Whitlock Jr. With Bosman’s character they call themselves Da 5 Bloods. They all have personal stories interwoven in the plot. Jonathan Majors plays Paul’s  estrange son. Jean Reno (The Professional) is the fence who moves the gold. Ofcourse nothing goes right and the story gets complicated. There is also a land mind clearing team which demonstrate the continued peril to the  Vietnamese from the war.

In flashbacks Lee does not use younger versions of the solders, rather he uses the present day solders. This narrative device clearly links past transgressions to the soldiers. Bosman appeared intermittently in film as the dead Stormin Norman. It is prophetic his role is as a ghost.   

Lee pays homage to other seminal Vietnam movies in shape and form. The film has clips from infamous moments of the Vietnam war. Two old former Vietcong soldiers buy drinks for the Americans marking the change from the past and a bow from soldier to soldier.

Lee intersperses black history facts in the movie. Black soldiers made up 16% of those drafted and 23% of Vietnam combat troops, despite accounting for only roughly 11% of the civilian population. A poignant clip shows Muhammad Ali’s espousing  his opposition to the draft saying the Vietnamese never did anything to harm him.

All these parts rolled up make a good Joint.