The Burden of History: Why Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloods Is an Essential American Epic
In the opening moments of Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloods , the audience is assaulted by history. Through a montage of burning villages, protest marches, and the pulsing, chaotic rhythms of Marvin Gaye’s “Inner City Blues (Make Me Wanna Holler),” Lee establishes immediately that this is not a film content to exist in the past. It is a film about the ghostly persistence of the past in the present. Da 5 Bloods
Unlike traditional Vietnam films such as Apocalypse Now or Platoon , which focus primarily on white American experiences, Da 5 Bloods centers Black soldiers. This perspective shift is everything. The Burden of History: Why Spike Lee’s Da
Released in 2020 on Netflix, Da 5 Bloods is a sprawling war drama directed by Unlike traditional Vietnam films such as Apocalypse Now