improbable heroes
by
Douglas Messerli
Danny
Bilson, Paul De Meo, Kevin Willmott, and Spike Lee (screenplay) Spike Lee
(director) Da 5 Bloods /2020
I
want to start this essay by answering a question some critics have recently
posed. Isn’t Spike Lee’s film somewhat racist against both the Vietnamese and
the American blacks? Hell, yes it
is! It was a racist era, and all the nice words in heaven can’t erase that
fact. Indeed, the entire Vietnam episode was not only a dirty war, but a truly
filthy one, with Lyndon B. Johnson, Richard Nixon, and Henry Kissinger ordering
entire villages of men, women, and children to be bombed out of existence not
only in North Vietnam, but later Cambodia. If superficially the US government
described this as a battle between Communism and Democracy, it was, in fact, a
war on Southeast Asia, an attempt to show the Chinese who were in control, particularly
given Kissinger’s real politick perspectives.
Even
a whore, such as Tiên (Lê Y)—with whom Otis (Clarke Peters) had a child—and whom
he revisits upon his later return to Vietnam, recalls how a white American
soldier had told her the name of her black lover, moi or “nigger.” The femme fatale Hanoi Hannah in
trying to undermine morale in the US forces focused on the black soldiers,
nightly reports their whereabouts, and plays them Marvin Gaye songs.
The Americans, in turn, had little sympathy
with the Vietnamese, or any Asians, gathering them under umbrella terms of hate
with words such as “gooks” and myriad of others, whether or not they were
living in the South or North. On his return to Vietnam with his other 4 living
brothers, Paul (Delroy Lindo), the most haunted and the one most suffering from
post-traumatic-stress, cannot even bear to brush up against the river sellers north
of Ho Chi Minh City.
But in the case of the black soldiers’
things were even worse, since they had long suffered racism from their fellow
white Americans for hundreds of years back home. The fact is that they were
more likely to be drafted into the military than their white brothers—many like
Howard and I, able to escape the draft by remaining in the universities and
colleges we attended (and later, for me, after I dropped out of the University
of Wisconsin to travel east with Howard, a 4F rating because I was gay, and
accordingly not seen fit for military duty).
Although African-Americans represented
only about 11 percent of the US civilian population, the represented 16.3
percent of all draftees, and 23 percent of combat troops serving in Vietnam. In
1965, blacks accounted for close to 25 percent of all combat deaths in Vietnam.
Although that number later dropped, they continued to perceive that they were
far more expendable and open to arrest than whites [based on information from The
New York Times, July 18, 2017}.
And with the shooting death of Martin Luther
King it became even more difficult for the black soldiers stationed in Vietnam
to any long accept the status quo, with many forming revolutionary
organizations such as Minority Servicemen’s Association, the Concerned Veterans
Association, Black Brothers United, the Zulu 1200s, De Mau Mau and the Black
Liberation Front of the Armed Forces, all related to the Black Power Movement,
and precursors of the current variations of Black Lives Matter.
These specific issues are not raised in
Lee’s film, but his and his cowriters’ dialogue is so rich that we can see the
5 men of “Da 5 Bloods” as being itself such a nascent grouping.
The squad leader of this this quintet of
soldiers is Norman Earl "Stormin' Norman" Holloway (Chadwick Boseman),
in their minds a kind of benevolent mix of Malcolm X and King, who is not only
able to calm their inner demons and violence, but is ready to put it to use in their
hand-to-hand battles with the North Vietnamese. All of other four clearly
adored him, and the search for his remains is the superficial reason why the
four of them remaining have come together in Ho Chi Minh City.
Their tour guide, Vihn (Johnny Trí Nguyễn)
has been told that he may not accompany them into the jungle, in which their
helicopter was originally downed, because they know the territory better than
any others. They even now recognize that there has been a recent landslide in
the area, which may have revealed their original location in more detail.
Actually, however, it is not only the
remains of Norman that the 4, Paul, Otis, Eddie (Norm Lewis), and Melvin (Isiah
Whitlock, Jr.) are seeking, but a kind of buried treasure. During the downing
of their helicopter, Norman breaks the lock on a trunk they were evidently
carrying for delivery to the Lahu people for their work in helping to battle
the Viet Cong.
The sudden introduction of a mercenary
motive for their gathering, at first, seemed out of place, even if all them—including,
we later discover, the supposedly successful car dealer Melvin—have little
money of their own. Yet, given Lee’s intelligent delineation of these
much-suffering figures, it seemed hard to me to comprehend how they might now
be involved in such an event.
But then there have been dozens of US
movies throughout the years about soldiers involved in just such attempted
heists. One is at the center of the romantic comedy, Charade, wherein
Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant attempt to outwit the former soldiers and their
hidden loot.
These many years later, we are not so
sure that any of the remaining four have such high-minded principles behind
their hopeful attempt to recover the millions of dollars in gold. They have
reluctantly agreed to use a Frenchman, Desroche (Jean Reno) as the go-between (after
he takes his 20% and Tiên takes her 10% for connecting them to him).
Da Bloods stop the first night at an inn
to store up on the sleep these now-60-year-olds will need for their voyage into
the heart of darkness, while the younger David scouts out the place,
discovering a beautiful French woman with the unbelievable name of two great
beauties, Hedy Bouvier (Mélanie Thierry) who explains that she is from a
wealthy family, who has given up her portion of the money to an organization
she has founded, LAMB, which travels about the Vietnam countryside detonating explosive
landmines still remaining hidden long after the war.
She is the first to repeat a major
refrain of Lee’s film: “You know you think the war is over, but it remains and
keeps returning.” (or words to that effect). She also introduces him to her two
associates Seppo Havelin (Jasper Pääkkönen), a beefy and fairly jolly fellow,
and the more handsome Simon (Paul Walter Hauser).
The next morning, as the now 5 men travel
deeper into the jungle, alternating with past memories (shot by the director on
16 mm film, the kind used that time, for the flashbacks and digital for the
present scenes).
Since the destruction of the previous
vegetation by napalm and landslides from the mountain, it is difficult to find
any evidence of where the gold might be buried, until David, needing the
relieve himself, takes a shovel to a nearby stream’s edge, and when digging up
to bury his excrement hits a gold bar. Quickly bringing it back to the group,
they take out their metal detector and find more bars; but when they finally
uncover the original trunk, it is empty, and they realize that the bars are now
buried all over the mountain.
Gradually, they retrieve them, one by one,
finally discovering the dog-tag and skeleton remains of Norman, which the
military will eventually dig up and return to his family for proper burial. If
there is a true hero in this work—which one of the bloods wishes would be portrayed
in a film instead of figures such as Sylvester Stallone running in to pretend
to save all the others—it is Norman.
We do slowly come to see these men, and
even Paul’s son, David, as improbable heroes, despite their mercenary
proclivities.
Yet they still must undergo many
challenges before they can prove their worth without Norman at their side. It begins
with Melvin steeping on a landmine, which kills him, followed soon after by his
Paul’s son David’s foot half-balanced on another mine. At that very moment the
three members of LAMB enter with a suggestion that perhaps they can help. Yet
their solutions involve blowing up the mines, not extricating someone who is
about to trigger one.
But now afraid that the three intruders
will reveal their activities, he has David tie them up, while he threatens them
with a gun (which Tiên has given Morris for his protection) held to their
heads.
When Simon escapes, Paul threatens to
kill the other two, while David and others of da Bloods disarm him. Yet almost
before the other two can escape, a Vietnamese contingent enters the scene,
threatening to kill Simon, whom they have picked up upon his run.
A shootout entails, with David being
shot seriously in the leg, Seppo being killed, and their guide’s truck, in
which he has been waiting for their return, having lost most of its gas. As it
now becomes apparent to them all that Desroche has betrayed them. And Hedy
demands, with the death of Seppo, that the disbursement of the gold be shared
with her and Simon.
Vinh suggests that they head for a
nearby abandoned temple, an idea which Paul refuses, striking out alone to a village
nearly 20 miles away.
Speaking to himself, later bitten by
poisonous tree snakes, Paul hallucinates the image of Norman, who gently
reminds that it was Paul who accidentally killed him when a Viet Cong soldier
suddenly entered their downed helicopter and stood over the squad-leader, ready
to kill him. We now know the deepest source of Paul’s self-punishment and his
belief that only a strong leader can help him out of his abyss. What he can’t
perceive, however, is just how truly incompetent that strongman will be.
Discovered by Desroche’s men, he is
forced to dig his own grave—a grave he has long been digging—and is shot and
killed within when he finishes.
We know, as do the remaining two bloods,
what will soon happen, that the armed soldiers and Desroche will soon find their
temple and attempt to kill them as well. At least they have a plan: Morris and
Heddy bring out what they describe as a basket of the gold bars; but when the
soldiers go to collect it they perceive is filled with simple bricks, and the
shooting again starts—continuing that war which seemingly will never end. This
time Eddie is killed, and when Desroche escapes from his overturned SUV, he sneaks
back to kill Morris. As he stands over him with a gun, David, who can hardly
walk, suddenly stands in the doorway to shoot the Frenchman dead.
I’m sorry to detail so much of the plot,
but this, after all is, an action film that depends on its moment to moment
events. Like war, if you leave out the details, you have only the blur of
history, not the expression of irreality it truly is. Is it any wonder that
book after book recounting wars of the past, spend pages on each of the battles
won and lost? War is not something anyone can believe or comprehend in the
abstract.
Fortunately, Spike Lee knows that, and
presents his details with great wit, with a sense of their ugliness and glory.
For illogical reasons, these four men, along with Paul’s seemingly hated son,
have all, in one way or another given up their current lives for one more tour
of duty in Vietnam. If Norman could convince them that they would return home
alive, their own final actions prove something else.
Only after the battles can love and
homelife, little by little, be restored. David is given a letter to be read
after his father’s death which proclaims that the violent man truly did love
him, and he can now to return to his classroom a slightly healed man.
Morris returns to Tiên’s, remarking that
he cannot leave without saying goodbye. But when his daughter Michon (Sandy
Hương Phạm), and he lovingly embrace, with now her full recognition that he is
her father, we are not certain he will return to the seemingly endless racism of
the US.
But his checks do: Vinh helps the
surviving Bloods share out the gold. Melvin's widow receives his share, and
Eddie's share, 2 million dollars, goes to a Black Lives Matter organization.
Heddy and Simon leave 3 million, in the name of Seppo, to the LAMB Foundation,
obviously with the hope that for future generations the war will not leave yet
more deaths.
As Norman had desired, at least partial
restitution has been accomplished.
If only this flick were not just fiction!
I should add, however, that throughout
his film, Lee punctuates his heavy action with Marvin Gaye’s real songs of the era,
from the 1971 album What’s Going On . This from “What’s Happening
Brother.”
Hey
baby, what'cha know good
I'm
just gettin' back, but you knew I would
War
is hell, when will it end,
When
will people start gettin' together again
Are
things really gettin' better, like the newspaper said
What
else is new my friend, besides what I read
Can't
find no work, can't find no job my friend
Money
is tighter than it's ever been
Say
man, I just don't understand
What's
going on across this land
Los
Angeles, June 22, 2020
Reprinted
from World Cinema Review (June 2020).
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