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Spike Lee on Honoring the Black Vietnam Veterans Experience in Da 5 Bloods, Shining a Spotlight on PTSD
Angelique Jackson, provided by
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With “Da 5 Bloods,” Spike Lee set out to tell a story about Black veterans’ experiences, crafting his tale around Marvin Gaye’s 1971 album “What’s Going On,” which encapsulated what soldiers faced during the Vietnam War abroad and after coming back home.
“Marvin had an older brother that did three tours in Vietnam; he was a radio operator. So he was writing Marvin periodically and giving him a firsthand account of the horrors of the Vietnam War,” Lee explains. “But also, he’s in Detroit, so he’s seeing the bloods come back in body bags, the ones who were maimed or strung out on heroin.”