"Da 5 Bloods", Spike Lee films the fate of African-American soldiers engaged in Vietnam

"Da Five Bloods", a Spike Lee film on Netflix. © David Lee / Netflix

Text by: Elisabeth Lequeret Follow

While waiting to find (perhaps) Spike Lee at the Cannes Film Festival 2021, as president of the jury, his new film will be released this Friday June 12 on Netflix. "Da 5 Bloods" takes the Vietnam War as a backdrop.

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Far from his beloved Brooklyn, Spike Lee takes us with his new feature film to Vietnam. Da 5 Bloods recounts the journey of four African-American veterans who embark for Hanoi, then on a dangerous journey inland to recover the body of their former head of unit, who died in action in 1971.

"  The United States owes us a debt  ": it is the militant speech which underlies the whole film. The project had been abandoned by Oliver Stone, and it was Spike Lee who revived it in his own way, not frankly subtle, but effective.

When Spike Lee criticizes violence against blacks

The opportunity for the filmmaker to take stock of an entire generation, shedding light on the fate of African-American soldiers engaged in Vietnam. It is not the first time that the filmmaker has criticized American society and the violence against blacks. In reaction to the riots that have taken place in the United States since the death of George Floyd, the filmmaker has thus produced a short film which parallels the death of the main character in his film Do The Right Thing and that of this African-American killed on May 25 during his violent arrest by the police.

Likewise, Da 5 Bloods  is a virile epic, an action film, but which also intends to have a historical bearing on these shadows of American history whose director continues to explore the aftermath.

► Read also: The new digital frontiers of the Cannes Festival 2020

► Also read: The 56 films from the official selection of the Cannes Film Festival which did not take place

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  • Cinema
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  • Vietnam