Two years after the success of BlacKkKlansman, Oscar-winning director Spike Lee is set to make his return to the silver screen with the debut of the highly-anticipated war film Da 5 Bloods. And true to Lee’s legacy of pushing the envelope, the premise of the upcoming Netflix film offers a biting social commentary of one of the most controversial events in American history: the Vietnam War.
Da 5 Bloods follows the lasting relationship of four Black men who served together in the Vietnam War and their decision to go back to the forests where they fought decades later. In search of the remains of their leader (Black Panther’s Chadwick Boseman), the veterans also attempt to retrieve the valuable treasure that they buried during their service.
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However, their return to Vietnam introduces new dangers for the crew of former soldiers and dredges up old heartbreaks that have never fully healed. Every step into the line of fine triggers the crew’s PTSD, reminding them of the endless horrors that they just barely survived.
“Being back here,” says star Delroy Lindo in the explosive full-length trailer. “I’m broken, man.”
Lindo rounds out the group of Vietnam vets, which also includes Clarke Peters, Norm Lewis, and Isiah Whitlock, Jr. Boseman plays their fallen captain, a charismatic and skilled foot soldier.
Da 5 Bloods is Lee’s second project with Netflix following his short-lived series adaptation of She’s Gotta Have It, but the partnership with the streaming giant for the war drama was the direct result of other studios turning the project's script (which was originally written by Danny Bilson and Paul De Meo) down despite the filmmaker's impressive filmography.
“It was a chance to show the story of African American Vietnam vets who go back to Vietnam,” Lee told Complex of his Netflix collaboration. “We were in the jungle, a hundred degrees. We were all in it. But we were halfway around the world. It's not a backlot or some Hollywood studio. We were in the jungle.”
The new Spike Lee joint will be available for streaming on Netflix on June 12. Check out its action-packed adventure below.
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