Spike Lee's Da 5 Bloods (Official Thread)

calh45

calh45

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TheGodling said:
The French chick was used to highlight how generations deal with historic guilt, and to be the opposite of Reno's character. Reno is a Frenchman who still holds business in 'Nam like a colonist, the white chick is doing what should've been the government's job and clearing mines and bombs left behind and are still hurting locals. 50 years later the Vietnamese are still risking being killed by American and French weapons.

The subplot with the Vietnamese daughter was needed for Otis' background (and why we should care he survives), also to be a counterpoint to Paul being a bad father. Paul hated his son since birth while Otis spent most of his life not knowing he had a daughter but instantly had nothing but fatherly love for her. Of course the introduction of the daughter is also used by Spike to talk about racial discrimination of black people in Asia and white soldiers strengthening it (the ones who taught the Vietnamese the N-word).

Stormin' Norman (Chadwick) was this film's colonel Kurtz (Brando's character from Apocalypse Now, which Spike gives thanks to in the end credits). In Apocalypse Now soldiers are sent into the Vietnamese jungle to kill a Colonel who has gone fully insane. Norman is the literal black counterpart to the white madman, a US soldier who was the moral compass that never wavered and actually kept his brothers sane during the war. His presence in the film is short but the weight of his importance is felt.

And I don't think Spike really had a lot to say about the war itself, it was all about how many people are still haunted by the war, and not always in the most commonly acknowledged sense (PTSD).



Thought the musical score was deliberately composed the sound like a traditional war movie score (the horns and strings) to emphasize that they were still fighting a war (if not against their own demons, then white supremacy). So it's sounding off because mentally we connect this kind of musical score to the heroism and struggle of war, not the suffering following the war.



Not really. They specifically wanted to return Norman so he could get a hero's treatment and burial and not be forgotten in history.

The other deaths (not just Eddie but also Paul and Melvin) were people who lived long lives but reached the end of the road due to their decision to also take the gold (note that each death, even Eddie's, is directly caused by the gold, not the retrieval of Norman's body).
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On second thought I agree with you. Spike would choose that music on purpose to mock mainstream movies that way. This is one of those movies where I don't think anyone should be giving a definite thumbs up or down after a first few watches.
 
Dr. Narcisse

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KalKal said:
Re the "telegraphed" deaths.
I like one bit of "false" foreshadowing they do in this:
Early on, they talk about how Paul loves "Rambo" movies, and they all have a laugh about how the 1980s Rambo and "Walker Texas Ranger" movies (i.e. "Missing in Action") have this whole mythology about Americans sneaking into the Vietnamese jungles to liberate dozens of American prisoners that are somehow still in POW camps 20 years later for some reason. Which really seems silly if you look back on that whole idea from the year 2020.

Then, when Paul splits from the group and goes off alone he starts talking about how he's going to die on his own terms, and not from cancer. The MAGA hat on his head actually looks a little like a Rambo bandana, and it looked to me like they were setting up for him to start re-enacting First Blood+Rambo 4 and make his last stand on a killing spree like a forest ninja. Instead, the jungle itself attacks him (in the form of a snake), Norman's ghost forgives him, then he gets executed by the Vietnamese.
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Good point.

Cause when he was doing the monologue I was sort of waiting for him to get shot. Then when he saw Boseman character I figured he was going to die while hugging his "ghost". After it went on for so long I thought back during the Rambo talk that now Paul was going to help the crew. No he was going to get executed. So yea the movie kind of stretches out things long enough to 2nd guess it and then hard cuts to the death. Even when Eddie died they dragged it out long enough to where either it wasnt going to happen or I was thinking he's going to be shot instead.
 
NoGutsNoGLory

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Rollie Forbes said:
Side note, in my opinion, Spike and Denzel are the Jordan & Pippen of movies (even better than DeNiro/Scorsese or MBJ/Coogler), but can we acknowledge that Spike & Delroy are a great pair also? Their catalog is pretty strong: Crooklyn, Malcolm X, Clockers, and Da 5 Bloods.
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Mean streets, taxi driver, raging bull, goodfellas, casino.....:ufdup: pump ur breaks.
 
Dr. Narcisse

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Primetime said:
That scene between Chad and Delroy (you know the one) had a nygga tearing up.

"It ain't no thing blood"

Me::mjcry:
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Ziggiy said:
Breh shyt had me wondering who was cutting the onions:mjcry:
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