Los Angeles:
Filmmaker Spike Lee believes his new feature “Da 5 Bloods” is a timely piece of art as the whole world has started to address the racial issues in the wake of George Floyd’s death.
The film, which is scheduled to premiere on Netflix on Friday, follows four Black veterans as they return to Vietnam to recover the body of their fallen leader (Chadwick Boseman) and the gold they discovered and buried decades ago.
Along the way, the heroes battle forces of humanity and nature while confronted by the lasting ravages of the immorality of the Vietnam War.
The movie makes its debut at a time when the US is witnessing widespread protests since the death of George Floyd, a 46-year-old black man who died after a white Minneapolis police officer pressed his knee into his neck for several minutes.
“I cannot take any credit for this. The film was shot when it was shot; it was ready to come out when it was ready to come out. And then the world changed for everybody,” Lee told Variety in an interview.
“When something is repeated all the time it becomes a cliche but that doesn’t mean it’s not the truth. And the truth I’m talking about is timing is everything. This film’s coming out at the right time for the world we live in,” he added.
Lee, who won an Oscar for his last directorial “BlackKklansman”, said the younger generation knows nothing about the Vietnam War as the older people didn’t bother to tell them about it.
“I come from a long line of educators. And as an educator, I can’t be one of these people saying that the young generation is ignorant because they will know something. If the younger generation doesn’t know something, it’s because the older generation did not teach them and when I say younger generation, I mean Black, white, brown, everybody,” Lee said.
“But I’m guessing they never heard of Crispus Attucks (so) I’m going to show you two paintings of what he looks like and also a painting of where he was killed. Crispus Attucks was the first person to die for the United States of America at the Boston Massacre during the American Revolutionary War. I wasn’t taught that; I know they’re not being taught that,” he added.
“Da 5 Bloods” also features Delroy Lindo, Jonathan Majors, Clarke Peters, Norm Lewis, Isiah Whitlock Jr, Melanie Thierry, Paul Walter Hauser, Jasper Paakkonen and Jean Reno.
