‘Da 5 Bloods’ Corrects American History

The ambitious film, a breakthrough in the depiction of black Vietnam vets as its central characters, continues Spike Lee's urgent career-long message.

“Da 5 Bloods,” was supposed to get a theatrical release, but Covid-19 has changed the rule book. Lee was also supposed to be a jury member at the Cannes Film Festival last month, but that’s postponed to 2021.

The film starts out with some archival imagery of the poetically loquacious Muhammad Ali, politically active blacks taking to the street and iconic clips of savagery from the Vietnam War with voice over telling us that African Americans make up 11 percent of the population but made up 33 percent of the fighting force, posing the question: “Will history stop repeating itself?”