Da 5 Blood Review: How A Fictional Story About The Past Is Now More Relevant Than Ever Before

It’s amazing how a movie that was filmed a year and a half ago could release and have talking points that are now more relevant than ever.

The Netflix Movie Da 5 Bloods, puts a spotlight on the Black veteran experience of Black veterans in a way few filmmakers can and in doing so, successfully links a film nominally about the Vietnam War to today’s cultural battles.

In any Spike Lee joint you go into it knowing you’ll learn some black history through the course of the film that needs to be taught to all Americans. For example the story of Milton L. Olive III, the first African Americans to be awarded the Medal of Honor after sacrificing himself by jumping on a grenade to save squads life or Crispis Attucks the first man killed in the Boston Massacre.

Those history lessons coupled with real footage of the Civil Rights leaders and Sports figures of the time speaking about the inequality of Black Americans puts you in the state of mind of these soldiers. Also, it is very eerie that the same fight from 60 years ago is still being fought in the present time. As the pleas of Black Americans have shifted to demand for equity and that Black Lives Matter, this film is a motivator for the Movement to continue until change happens.

The movie itself tells the story of Black Vietnam veterans who refer to themselves as Da Bloods — Otis (Clarke Peters), Eddie (Norm Lewis), Melvin (Isiah Whitlock Jr.), Paul (Delroy Lindo) and the late Stormin’ Norman (Chadwick Boseman)—return to Vietnam to retrieve the remains of their fallen comrade Stormin’ Norman so they say.

As the audience is taken on a journey that spans across decades, these veterans have a secret. During a mission to secure the site of a crash CIA airplane and recover its cargo, a locker of gold bars intended as payment for the native inhabitants for their help fighting the Vietnam Cong.

Da Bloods decide to take the gold for themselves as repayment for the poor treatment of African Americans by the United States government throughout history. Using it to assist in the advancement of Black communities, so they buried the gold vowing to come back and retrieve it later.

Fast forward to the present day, Paul, Otis, Eddie, and Melvin meet up in Ho Chi Minh City however Da Bloods aren’t the only group looking for the gold.

Da 5 Bloods, is a highly recommended movie to watch not only for its entertainment value but the fact it could help other races at least gain a minimum understanding of what Black Americans are fighting for in today’s social climate.