Hello, this is Spike Lee,
and I'm the director of Da 5 Bloods.
My research always starts very early,
no matter what film it is.
For all the young filmmakers that are watching this,
what works for me may not work for you.
But for me,
I like to do as much research as I can,
because the more I know about the subject matter –
the story – it's just better overall.
I mean, if you're doing a film
and your actor asks you something,
a question referring to the subject matter,
and you can't come up with an answer,
then you're looking stupid.
My process was, watch as many documentaries
on the Vietnam War as I could.
Books, magazines,
TV news reports,
Walter Cronkite, David Brinkley and them guys.
They say that we are mired in stalemate,
seems the only realistic if unsatisfactory conclusion.
The best thing is speaking to people who were there.
Now for me, that didn't happen
'til after we finished editing.
Before we locked the picture, we had four screenings
here in New York for Black Vietnam vets.
These heroic Black men went to Vietnam
when they were 17, 18 years old.
So they were there, I wasn't there.
'67, I was 10 years old.
I knew going in, if these brothers, these bloods,
if they didn't like the film,
if they didn't feel for the film,
if they didn't laugh, if they didn't cry,
it would have been a failure to me.
Those four screenings, they were amazing.
Four different screenings,
theater packed with Black and Brown Vietnam vets.
During all four screenings, some of these guys
had to get up and leave the theater,
get themselves together,
then come back in.
And at the end of these four screenings,
every one of these guys, these patriots,
gave me the hug of life,
thanking me for doing this movie,
thanking me for telling their story.
They were also getting their shot into me like, "Spike,
we been waiting on your ass to do this film,
what took you so long?"
It was deep, it was deep.
I made this film for them and they felt it.
They approved it, they loved it,
they put their stamp of approval on it.
After you've been in a war,
you understand it really never ends.
Whether it's in your mind or in reality.
Hell, it's just degrees.
Tell me about it.
It is my belief that we need a diversity of narratives
because a lot of the narrative
of these United States has been a false narrative.
I'm gonna break it down like this:
Young people, over generations,
have not been taught the origin of this country.
The United States of America is based upon
the foundation of immoral acts,
the stealing of the land from the Native people,
the genocide of the Native people,
the stealing of my ancestors from Mother Africa,
brought here to endure slavery,
that's the foundation, that's how this country was built.
Our Uncle George owned 123 slaves.
As one of the characters states in Da 5 Bloods,
George Washington, the first president
of these United States owned 123 slaves.
So the whole shit's foundation is fucked up.
So consequently, the narrative has been fucked up.
Because if you want to keep that narrative going,
based upon that, those immoral acts,
you make up lies
about the people you oppress.
Simple, how is that done?
Novels, songs, film, and television.
Go back to D. W. Griffith's The Birth of a Nation,
a false narrative to perpetuate the white mythology.
People of color, Black, Brown,
you also include women,
our gay brothers and sisters,
have been dehumanized
in various art forms, but the most powerful damage done,
100 plus years in film and 50 plus years in television.
♪ Mammy don't you know me ♪
♪ I used to be her boy ♪
♪ Her pride and joy ♪
♪ My mammy ♪
As a filmmaker interpreting historical moments,
the first step is to know the history,
then, if there are examples of that
that's done in the past,
see how it's been done,
and if some lies have been told,
then you gotta like try to re-tell that narrative.
That's what I do.