The Long, Strange Journey of <em>Da 5 Bloods </em>

Spike Lee’s Da 5 Bloods is a vital work on an overlooked subject in American film: the experience of black veterans in the Vietnam War, a perspective largely lacking from Hollywood’s 50 years of output on that conflict. The movie follows a group of 60-something retirees, still mourning their leader Stormin’ Norman (played by Chadwick Boseman), who died in battle, as they return to Vietnam to recover his body and a cache of gold bars he was buried alongside. Through the lens of this elaborate caper, Lee examines the cycles of violence demanded by American imperialism, and the cruel irony that black soldiers—who called one another Bloods—were forced to fight for freedom in another country while being denied it in their own.

But that wasn’t the original pitch for Da 5 Bloods. The film was intended as more of a straightforward adventure, influenced by , following a group of mostly white veterans as they make their way through modern Vietnam in search of their former squad leader, who is very much alive. That pitch was titled and scripted by Danny Bilson and Paul De Meo (a writing team best known for the cult classic ), and it was originally going to be directed by Oliver Stone. A Vietnam veteran himself, Stone has made three films about the conflict—, , and . But when he dropped out, the script found its way to Lee, who transformed it with his writing partner, Kevin Willmott.