Spike Lee names the greatest album of all time
Many movies have been made about the Vietnam War. Some of them, such as Apocalypse Now, Full Metal Jacket, and Platoon, are still defining films of their eras. But just when it seemed like that dark moment in history was in the rearview mirror for filmmakers, Spike Lee found a new story to tell.
Shortly after winning an Oscar for 2018’s BlacKkKlansman, the director released Da 5 Bloods, a bittersweet, action-packed drama about four Black veterans who return to Vietnam in the present day to recover the remains of their squad leader and find the treasure that they buried in the jungle with him decades before.
The film features all the hallmarks that Lee has become known for, from real-life footage of the atrocities perpetrated during the War to an exploration of Blackness in modern America. As they fight their personal battles with the past, the men are forced to confront the fact that they risked their lives for a country that, decades later, still doesn’t treat them as equals.
Another element that is woven through the film, as it is in all of Lee’s movies, is music. All the way back to the jazz-steeped Mo’ Better Blues in 1990, the director has used music not just to mirror and enhance the drama on screen but to switch the tone of the movie on a dime. Even by Lee’s standards, however, the music in Da 5 Bloods is special. Throughout the film, one classic album features heavily, and, according to the director, it’s the greatest of all time.
As Lee explained in an interview with Blackfilm, “The Marvin Gaye music was specifically from the greatest album ever, in my opinion, What’s Going On? The album came out in 1971, and this would be the album that people were listening to. This was the album that people were listening to in Vietnam. Marvin had an older brother named Franklin, who did three tours in Vietnam. He was an operator. Marvin would read his brother’s letters firsthand about what’s happening in the Vietnam War.”
Continuing, the director added: “And then Marvin, being from Detroit, would see what was happening with the brothers coming back from war. So I think those two things really are the impetus for the creation. So I’m very honoured, lucky, and blessed that we were able to incorporate a lot of songs from the album. And like you stated earlier, he’s like a character. His music, and his words are like a character in the film.”
Gaye’s album has gone down in history as one of the most poignant expressions of the Vietnam War era and the mood that defined it. For the artist, it was a decisive bid for independence from his record label, which was pushing for evermore glossy hits from its R&B star. The album features sleek production, but the lyrics are a far cry from anything the Prince of Motown had done up to that point. Full of rage, confusion, and, ultimately, a tentative bid for hope, it remains the standout album of the Gaye’s all-too-short career, even if tracks like ‘Ain’t No Mountain High Enough’ and ‘Sexual Healing’ get the most air time.
In Da 5 Bloods, Lee pays an even greater tribute to Gaye’s album and the impetus behind it by using an acappella version of the title song. During a pivotal moment in the film, the singer’s unaccompanied voice can be heard, liberated from the polished production values of the record label, begging the simplest of questions in the messiest of times.
