WATCHLIST
Genre: Runs:
Available: TVSW says: return to Vietnam to retrieve the body of their former squad leader – and also collect a stash of gold that they buried along with him.
The drama begins in Vietnam in 1968 as the soldiers and their leader, Stormin’ Norman (Black Panther’s Chadwick Boseman), learn how Martin Luther King Jr has been assassinated, an event that forces them to consider just how willing they are to fight for a country that doesn’t think their lives matter.
‘The US armed forces came close to being torn apart,’ says Lee. ‘When black soldiers heard that Dr King was assassinated, they were about to be firing some guns – and it wasn’t going to be at the Viet Cong either.’
Fast-forward five decades and veterans Paul (Delroy Lindo), Otis (Clarke Peters), Eddie (Norm Lewis), and Melvin (Isiah Whitlock Jr) return to the former war zone, accompanied by Paul’s son,
David (Jonathan Majors).
Before Norman’s death, the unit had found a stash of gold bars lost by the CIA, which they planned to use to combat the injustices against black Americans. Now, as the comrades return, will the allure of the bullion split the group apart?
‘They are in their 60s and 70s now, but they go back to Vietnam and kind of relive everything they went through,’ says co-writer Kevin Willmott.‘they’re all very different guys, including Paul who is a Trump supporter.’
The film is intercut with footage of anti-war protests and haunting images of the war, while the soundtrack features tracks from Marvin Gaye’s classic album
What’s Going On, released in 1971.
‘It’s one of the greatest albums ever made,’ says Lee. ‘Marvin’s elder
African-american war veterans return to Vietnam to find hidden treasure in SPIKE LEE’S blistering new movie