This is not a black movie, not even an anti-war movie, Reivew on Da 5 Bloods

There are spoilers! !

Spike Lee realized one thing. It was what Martin Luther King Jr. realized when he decided to join the anti-war team. It was what Malcolm X realized after returning from a pilgrimage to Mecca. It was also what the Panthers leaders realized time and time again. What was realized and put into practice in an experience of backlash and blow is:

—— The problem of black people has never been the problem of black people themselves, but the general problem of mankind.

This is why "Da 5 Bloods" is more powerful and greater than all his past works.

If Spike’s past works are only confined to their own national and racial identity, they only focus on the past and future of the fate of black groups and individuals, and are only obsessed with digging out the structural violence and evil reflected in the injustices suffered by blacks. Then "Da 5 Bloods" is his breakthrough and surpassing of himself.

But this will also make many film critics dissatisfied, because the film's appeal is no longer a criticism of racism, imperialism, or even war. If you watch it with such preconceived expectations, you will definitely be disappointed. Just as many people were disappointed when watching Ang Lee’s Billy Lynn’s midfield game (Ang Lee was also criticized for not criticizing the imperialist ideology behind the Gulf War).

The starting point of the film is of course the specific encounters of black people. The conflict and awakening caused by four black Vietnam War veterans returning to the old battlefield to search for treasures and the remains of their deceased. But this time race is not the main topic of the movie discussion .

Race has become a blurred or even weakened background that retreats into the distance. It gives the story atmosphere and background color, but it is not the story itself, nor the main source of conflict and tension. The unfolding of the story is not structured by "black vs white". The lines about black and white differences and contradictions are few and restrained. Discussions about race probably accounted for only one tenth of the film. Otis, one of the veterans, lamented that white children can study in college, but black children can only be sent to the battlefield. This is indeed one of the most profound structural injustices caused by race in the Vietnam War: some children have the privilege of not going to the front lines .

11% of the black population accounted for 32% of the U.S. soldiers, not only because many poor black families yearn for military welfare, but also because of the apartheid system, a very high percentage of blacks could not enter college and graduated from high school. That is, drop out of school, so the proportion of blacks enlisted in the army is much higher than that of whites. What's more, there are people who can use money to buy fake certificates issued by doctors to avoid conscription, such as the "President fake bone spurs" mocked by veterans.

The blacks were discriminated against and oppressed in their own country, which caused the absurdity of blacks participating in the war . These words came out through the words of boxing champion Ali:

They didn't call me a nigger, they didn't lynch me, they didn't enslaved me, they didn't set off police dogs to attack me, and they didn't deprive me of my nationality. Shoot them for what?

On the battlefield, North Vietnamese Radio reported to black soldiers fighting in South Vietnam over and over again of the anti-war wave in the United States, the violence encountered by the affirmative movement, the repression of students by the Kent State University army, and the assassination of Martin Luther King.

At this point, a big context has been established: such a historical age and such a race relationship can produce such logically absurd personal and group encounters.

However, this is only the background of the story that will happen next.

If Spike wants to talk about race, it shouldn't be too simple. Numbers in black and white, bloody facts. From the unfair conscription to the segregation in the army, there are many examples of conflicts, bullying, and even massacres between black soldiers and white officers. Outside the battlefield, the African-American GI couldn't even get a taxi from the airport of his home country. After the Vietnam War, white GIs could easily own their first real estate with low mortgage interest rates, but African GIs were rejected.

Spike didn't tell countless stories about wars and races.

The only time black and white soldiers are in the same frame is to perform tasks together, but there is hardly any verbal and behavioral interaction during the whole process. The white soldier was killed quickly, leaving five black brothers-Bloods to take over the task. Bloods found the remuneration that the U.S. military had to pay to the Lahu tribe—a box of gold bars. Captain Norman said, we kept this money by ourselves. But not for personal use, but to wait until the end of the war to donate to the black movement organization, for the first batch of African slaves sold to the colonies in 1619, for the sacrifices for the country since the War of Independence, but nothing was obtained. Black brothers.

Then Norman was shot and killed. The remaining four Bloods buried gold bars and Norman. Decided to wait for the war to come back to find the gold bars and the remains of Norman.

The neon street scene in modern Vietnam alternates with the suffocating war scene 40 years ago. Spike uses a 16mm film perspective to represent war scenes. But the soldiers who played 40 years ago are still the elderly veterans in the modern scene. There is only one young man, Norman, who died on the battlefield. Only Norman stayed in his 20s forever. At first glance, it may be a little uncomfortable, but this way of expression is precisely the most real. Think about it, in our memories, the current appearance always appears in the past scenes, right?

In the switch between the past and the present, the focus of the story has gradually shifted from the confrontation between black and white to the focus on the predicament of mankind .

This universal human dilemma is the story Spike really wants to tell:

——The story of how a man killed his own brother, how to survive the curse of his brother’s blood, and how to get redemption from this curse.

This story is about black and white, and it has nothing to do with black and white.

Modern warfare is essentially sacrifice. Although under the baptism of modernity, people no longer naked infanticide, but the ancient gods were replaced by modern "gods". Under the call of patriotism, ideology, justice and fairness, generations of children Sacrifice on the battlefield. The only difference is that the ancient sacrifices sacrificed the children of kings and nobles, while the modern sacrifices sacrifices the children of the poorest, lowest, and most powerless people in society. They can be discarded. Dispensable people, dispensable population.

Human harm to others, and the resulting series of physical and mental traumas, is the truth that we have to face. This trauma is of course the most vividly manifested in war, but outside of war, life is actually a battlefield everywhere .

The family is the first to bear the brunt. Veteran Paul's injury to his son was that he could not accept his wife's dystocia and vented his sorrow on his son. He said that he could not love him, not because he did not love him, but because of his lack of ability. Next is society. Whites hurt blacks, Americans hurt Vietnamese, French hurts Vietnamese, colonists hurt colonial people, have-nots hurt, men hurt women, and women hurt. Man's injury. No one can escape the closed loop of injury and being hurt.

Therefore, people must not only learn how to live as a victim, but also learn how to live as a perpetrator with a surviving conscience.

PTSD is a chronic disease of every modern person.

The movie Spike can be said to talk about PTSD, but it is not a PTSD caused by war in a narrow sense, but a PTSD that exists in humans in a broader sense.

"We ALL have PTSD," Paul was told by the other Bloods when he had a panic on the cruise ship in Saigon. "Really?" "Yes."

Sleep problems, emotional problems, self-control problems, fear of losing love. The button of volcanic eruption is frightened, helpless, I want to love but cannot love, I want to change but powerless to change. We all have. It's not just veterans. There is only a difference between light and heavy, there is no difference between having and without.

The reason is simple, human beings always hurt each other, and hurt must leave a wound. Definitely.

Whether you remember it or not, whether the person who hurt you was unintentional or intentional, with a positive or a negative motivation, the result is the same. Everyone can be said to be a survivor who barely survived under the curse of traumatic stress disorder. And everyone is both the victim and the perpetrator.

Veteran Paul-the victim of the war, the heir to the curse, and the severe PTSD patient, is your representative.

From the beginning, Paul was the one of the four brothers who was doing things.

In the bar, Paul surprised the other three: Yes, I voted for Trump.

WTF! The three of them exploded. That "fake bone spur" president? !

"That group called us baby killer!" Paul said angrily. Of course, those people refer to those who support the anti-war. Paul hates immigrants and supports the construction of walls. He is one of the "Blacks for Trump".

But what made Paul eventually parted ways with everyone was the disposition of the gold bars. Norman's entrustment to Bloods was to convert gold bars into cash and donate them to black sports organizations. But Paul refused. When a group of people were chased by the Viet Cong for the gold bars, Paul decided not to trust his brother anymore, and walked on a path that he thought could escape by himself.

The betrayal of Norman, brother and son was the last straw that overwhelmed Paul. The next scene can be recorded in the annals of film history. When Paul, who was almost mentally collapsed, turned and left, he roared like a wounded giant, and what he recited loudly in his mouth was the 23rd Psalm of the Bible:

The Lord is my shepherd, and I will not lack. He made me lie down on the green grass and led me by the water where I could rest. He awakened my soul and guided me on the path of righteousness for his own name. Although I have walked through the valley of the shadow of death, I am not afraid of being harmed, because you are with me; your rod and your rod comfort me.

Paul straightened his head on the MAGA [1] hat, walked into the dense jungle, and used his stick to constantly sweep away the grass above his head. His eyes were staring straight at the camera, staring at you and me:

"This is my gold, no one can take it away from me! No one. Fuck the terminal illness! Fuck the doctor. Fuck the petrol bomb... polluted forests, fields, houses, pollution My blood, my DNA! A terminal illness can't kill Paul. No one can kill. I will decide when and where I die!"

Paul, who tightly grasped the backpack stuffed with gold, looked like a grunt in "The Lord of the Rings" who was consumed by the ring and groaned "my baby" while holding the ring.

But we all know that the Lord of the Rings and gold bars are not the point. The point is the extremely heavy and powerful curse imposed on the ring and gold bars.

The curse of the Lord of the Rings comes from the greed of the caster Sauron; the curse of the gold bullion comes from the blood that killed the brother.

[Serious spoilers! ! ! 】

Yes, Paul killed someone. He killed his most beloved, most admired, teacher and friend Norman. It was an accident , but the bullet from the gun in Paul's hand shot into Norman's body, and Norman died in his arms. Then Paul returned to his comrades and told them that Norman was dead, killed by the enemy.

It is a lie that is heavier than murder . Lies can tamper with memories . Paul and his comrades had a detail when they were drinking in the bar. Several Vietnamese old men at the opposite table paid for them and toasted to them. The tour guide said that those people were the Viet Cong in the past. Everyone raised their glasses, only Paul hesitated.

"What if they are the ones who killed Norman?" Paul questioned his comrades seriously.

"It's all over. The American War is over. Raise the cup!" Otis said.

Paul sincerely thought that among those old people, there might be someone who killed Norman.

The human brain will tamper with memory for some self-protection mechanism. He would replace himself in a scene that he couldn't accept with someone else, or simply write off that memory and seal it.

Modifying or sealing memory is a life-saving mechanism, a self-protection device that can help people live in that painful dying moment. This is like the human immune cells will automatically eliminate viruses that invade the outside world. When the brain receives unbearable pain, the device starts to operate automatically. You can think of it as a chronic inflammatory response .

The consequence of the "chronic inflammation" of the brain is that the pain is blocked, but the person has changed.

Paul changed. The Paul who heard the assassination of Martin Luther King from North Vietnam Radio on the battlefield, and was about to kill a few white soldiers with a gun, disappeared. It was replaced by a selfish, angry, grumpy, stingy, and admiring Trump "ruthless man." Melvin yelled at him, when did you become such a jerk?

It was when that unbearable memory was changed.

At the same time, the brain's cognition is changed, because the "I" must be "worthy" of the tampered memory. My good friend was killed by the Viet Cong , "I" has the right to be angry, "I" has the right to hate, "I" must be angry and hated, and "I" cannot stop anger and hatred. The more it is a lie, the less "I" can forgive it. Because it is not others who really want to forgive, it is me. However, the "self" who killed Norman has been replaced by the Viet Cong, and the "self" that needs to be forgiven has disappeared. What else can extinguish anger and hatred? What ?

This is the real reason why Paul couldn't give up gold bars alive and well. He can't be the Paul who admires Norman, obeys Norman, shares the joys and sorrows with the Bloods, and shares the fate with the blacks. Eddie asked him if Norman's instructions were forgotten? Paul said: I don't remember.

If you look at it for the first time, you will find it strange here. Because all the foreshadowing in the front is how close Paul and Norman are, and how close they are to their teachers and brothers, Otis told Paul's son that no one loves Norman more than Paul. However, at this time he said that he had forgotten, Norman's most important request before his death, he did not remember.

The "Paul" who should have remembered Norman's request was sealed along with the lie. Paul must live as this "villain".

————————————————————————————————————

I have such a curse on me, and I know you have it too.

Memories that have been tampered with or sealed in order to resist harm, must bear that memory to live with a new identity, emotions are touched for some reason, panic attack. But there is no reason for anger, despair, fear, and depression.

This is what I said at the beginning of the article, the common dilemma of human beings.

In the uninterrupted human-to-human injury, different brains make different defensive stress responses, wrapping the memory of the injury in different forms, but the seeds left by the injury are retained, with each emotion The outbreak brings more harm to others and to oneself.

The key to open this closed loop is love .

Paul was bitten by a snake while escaping alone, then stepped on a trap, rolled down the hillside, and lay on the grass by the stream. The backpack full of gold was lifted high into the air by the branches. Paul was wounded and cursed at the sky.

Here is a monologue of Paul facing the camera, a dialogue with "God":

One night I fell asleep, and God jabbed me to wake me up. I asked him: God, why wake me up this old guy? God said: Paul, fxxx them motherfuckers. Keep on keeping on. I said: What? God said: fxxx them. They know what a shit, do what you want, and show them that Lao Tzu is right.

We know that this is not a dialogue with God, this is the dialogue between Gulujia and Guluyi, Paul A and Paul B in "The Lord of the Rings".

Then Paul saw his former comrade-in-arms, Norman, standing on the green grass beside the stream not far away. Remember Psalm 23?

The next scene should be familiar to believers, right?

Norman opened his clothes and pointed his finger at the wound in his abdomen. Paul asked him to come over. He said, "I can't yet because there is still something to do."

What's up?

The memory Paul blocked.

The scene turns back to the battlefield 40 years ago, Paul and Norman fought side by side, Paul missed and shot the bullet into Norman's body. Norman died in Paul's arms.

The memory is back.

"It's all right now." Norman said.

Norman walked to Paul. Paul was about to escape, Norman hugged him and said, "That was an accident."

"It's okay. Blood, I forgive you." I said it three times.

The three times are the number of times that Peter denied the Lord and the number of times that Jesus asked Peter "Do you love me" and forgive Peter.

Of course there is no doubt that this is alluding to Jesus.

But this is not the point. The point is, do you see how the curse is undone? Is love undone.

Norman's appearance opened up the sealed memory, but this time, the memory brought about is no longer the self-blame, resentment, sadness, and sadness felt at the moment when the event happened. This time it brought Norman's love, forgiveness and grace to Paul .

The once unbearable guilt and self-blame made Paul unable to face his own transgressions, but when all this was replaced by the assurance of love, the true memory was naturally restored, and the true Paul returned.

There is no fear in love .

So Norman said, it's okay now. He hugged Paul and forgave Paul. The curse of the manslaughter brother was opened.

Paul is not the same anymore.

In the face of the enemy who was catching up, Paul was fearless and admitted that he was wrong. He fought an immoral battle and killed people who shouldn’t be killed. He was a brother in comrades and a brother in Vietnam who was also a human being. . But he did not evade because of this, but deceived himself, because he knew that he had been forgiven and the curse was released. In love, he is bold and fearless, and can smile to see his creator.

Why is Spike Lee more powerful and greater this time?

Because he saw from a higher dimension the enlightenment and meaning of the experience of blacks to all mankind. The suffering of the blacks is not only the suffering of the blacks themselves, but the sufferings of all oppressed, deprived, imprisoned, and harmed human beings. The black liberation movement is not only and should not be a movement to liberate blacks as a single race, but a movement to give freedom, dignity, and love to all those who have suffered such suffering.

In the historical fragments at the beginning of the film, there are not only fragments of black people being persecuted, but also these:

Humans landed on the moon for the first time in 1969
On May 4, 1970, national guards shot Kent State University students, killing 4 people
Vietnamese girl running naked after being burned by gasoline bomb
Vietnamese monks set themselves on fire, North Vietnamese spies were shot in the street, Vietnamese babies, women and children were killed in the grass
1968 Democratic National Convention held, Chicago riots
Lyndon Johnson announces he will no longer run for re-election
Nixon resigns
Ho Chi Minh with the children
The fall of Saigon in 1975
A large number of boat people refugees arrived in the U.S. from 1975 to 1995
Dr. King was assassinated a year after his anti-war speech
600,000 soldiers suppressed the riots

In an unfair and unjust generation, people hurt and kill their brothers/sisters for various reasons, either intentionally or unintentionally. The cycle begins with Cain.

Cain killed his brother Abel, and God asked him, "Where is your brother Abel?" He said, "I don't know. Am I watching over my brother?" God said, "Your brother's blood is The voice cried out to me from the ground. The ground opened its mouth and received your brother's blood from your hand. You will be cursed from this place."

Cain's curse is a metaphor for generations of humans hurting each other and suffering from PTSD for generations.

What breaks this curse is that we, as the perpetrators and victims, accept the love from above, unlock the sealed memory, and hurt others. Please seek forgiveness. Those who are hurt, please forgive.

Martin Luther King’s anti-war speech is still in my ears [2] :

Now, every country needs to be responsible for the human community... We need love that transcends race, race, class, and country, and unconditional love for all human beings. The matter of love has been misunderstood and wrongly expressed, and Nietzsche has also been denounced as weak and cowardly. However, love is the absolute key to human life and death. When I speak of love, I am not expressing the sweet feeling of narcissism, I am talking about a kind of power , which is the powerful and unified law of life that all human religions resort to. Love is the key to open the door to ultimate truth. The ultimate truth pursued by Hinduism, Muslims, Christianity, Judaism, and Buddhism is perfectly explained in the book of St. John: "We love each other because love comes from God, and those who love are born from God. And people who know God. People who don’t love don’t know God, because God is love. If we love each other, God lives among us, and love is perfect among us.”

Bloods don't die, we just multiply. But don't let the hatred go on endlessly, let the love go on endlessly.