Spike Lee’s “Da 5 Bloods” captured a critical point of view lost from film. After decades of producing blockbuster war stories and award-winning battle scene epics, the story of the Black Vietnam veteran has been largely neglected by Hollywood.
Lee’s Netflix film changed that by putting the story of four 60-something veterans reuniting in Vietnam under his lens. After years of distance the men return to the wilderness to honor their fallen squad leader (Chadwick Boseman) and uncover the gold they buried decades ago. But. digging up their past uncovers the pain and grief each soldier has been carrying with them for ages in this time-jumping narrative from Netflix.
However, before “Da 5 Bloods” was a Spike Lee joint, it was titled “The Last Tour” and Oliver Stone was attached to direct. Known for his Vietnam War movies from “Platoon” to “Born on the Fourth of July,” Stone seemed like a good fit for the film, but there was one problem — he couldn’t “solve” the movie.
Variety brought the Oscar-winning NYU film grads together for the Directors on Directors series to discuss the origins of “Da 5 Bloods” and its important journey to unearth the real history of America’s oppression and systemic racism.
Watch the full interview above.
