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Da 5 Bloods (2020)
A Politically-Driven Film that Flows Spontaneously, yet Effectively and Explicitly Displays its Message.
'Da 5 Bloods' is a 2020 film about a group of four African-American veterans of the Vietnam War, who in a contempary setting head back to the land they fought on fifty years prior. They go to confront their trauma, but mostly to search for the gold their deceased, heroic squad leader ('Stormin' Norman) hid.
This film I like due to the explicit action, and with that explicit tones developed throughout. The veterans from the very start are bound for a traumatic experience, with flashbacks to not only their time in the sixties but to the world's violence that erupted then (disturbing images of Capt. Nguyen Van Lem's, and the village of My Lai's deaths are depicted.) One character in particular is very emotional; the Trump-supporting curmudgeon Paul is hostile to the curious Vietnamese people in their return, for example the scene wherein he has a panic attack in anger after refusing the sale of a chicken. Paul is very loose, and we all know that his anger is perpetuated by the trauma of war. He dislikes his son when he asks to split his share of gold with him, and gradually starts to detest him throughout, when he puts the life of hostage Seppo (a volunteer who helps clear landmines) aboves the value of the gold. After the touching, relieving scene of his son David escaping from a landmine, Paul is still focused on the gold. During one of the confrontations with Vietnamese gunmen, David gets shot in the leg. Leaving his injured son behind, Paul flees into the jungle with his gold. The characters are very deeply and well written however; Paul is not an outright bad person - he only suffered from bad, hurrendous experiences; an unjust war (in the film's view) wherein oppressed black people were sent to fight for their oppressors. The characters are so well written and so the build-up to their deaths should be well-executed...
...However, it's not - and here's where the problem with pacing comes into the film. Take the shocking and surprising gruesome death of Eddie, wherein in the jungle he triggers a landmine. A fellow Blood (or David, I'm not quite sure) comforts his limbless, dying body. This is explicit and moving, however the dialogue and attitudes that follow - for not only the materialistic Paul - do not match this tragic death. The scene of Eddie's death seems to be forgotten in the part of the film.
I do really enjoy the scene where David has a jump from a landmine trigger, with help from the group tugging a rope tied around him. The father-son dialogue here shows the true humanity in those scarred in trauma. The tension is brilliant, and I get the notion that it was inspired by the Russian Roulette scenes of 'The Deer Hunter' (1978). Another scene I like - a scene which conveys reason for the trauma - is the wartime shot where the 5 Bloods ambush a group of Viet Cong, as they speak colloquially and normally of family life. The tension is created here too, as we know the men are ordered to essentially kill family members - one of the hellish aspects of war.
I understand Spike Lee's motives for his films, but I think in some cases the motives aren't conveyed as well as they should be. He has developed deep characters in exciting situations, yet the decision is made to display (or unsubtly commemorate) the African-American heroes of the past. It works well at the start and ends of the film, because it suits the introductory and conclusive narratives (as well as the haunting footage of the Vietnamese Captain's execution and the Buddhist monk's self-immolation), but does not really work when you constantly show images of lesser-known black heroes in the middle of dialogue (interrupting the usual narrative.) It is respectful, I will admit, but not in the cinematic sense; in the way this, as its type of film, is supposed to flow.
Perhaps the film is a little too black-and-white when it comes to politics, particularly in the contemporary way, where the victors of modern-day Earth have not yet been crowned by history. (mightn't be as anti-racist as he Democrat opponents, but the situation today, as sensitive as it may be, is better than that of the sixties, and that is indeed due to the integrity and political strength of the civil rights movement during the time of Vietnam. One could say that pride is needed instead of constant victimhood.) Maybe that's just some bias coming out of me personally, but I do find, for the most part, this film to be a decent depiction of the modern-day pity of war.