American film director, producer, screenwriter, actor, and professor, Spike Lee, believes his new Netflix film Da 5 Bloods is relevant in wake of racial issues being addressed worldwide. The world including South Africa has started to address the racial issues in the wake of George Floyd’s death.
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George Floyd died in Minneapolis in May as a white police officer held a knee on his neck for almost nine minutes. The final moments were filmed on mobile phones. Four police officers involved have been fired and charged over his death.
Spike Lee’s Netflix film Da 5 Bloods, which premiered on Netflix South Africa on Friday, follows four Black veterans as they return to Vietnam to recover the body of their fallen leader Norman played by 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.
Da 5 Bloods also features Jonathan Majors, Clarke Peters, Delroy Lindo, Paul Walter Hauser, Jasper Paakkonen, Norm Lewis, Isiah Whitlock Jr, Melanie Thierry, Jean Reno and Veronica Ngo.
Speaking to Variety in an interview, Lee said: “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.”
Da 5 Bloods makes its debut at a time when the US is witnessing widespread protests since the death of George Floyd.
“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 also said that 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,” Lee added.
Watch Da 5 Bloods Trailer below:
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