Many many years ago, I got an associates degree in history. My final dissertation for this qualification was very specifically in the Media Portrayal of Vietnam. How the tv, radio, and newspapers of the time portrayed that war. It was after all, the first war, where the media could comment almost live.

That bred an interest for me, in how the Vietnam war is portrayed in media since then. Movies and television have used it as a source for many stories.

So it is without hyperbole that I say, this is the first time I have seen this story be told. This is the first time I have seen the African American side of the Vietnam War be told. And it is a side I feel entirely unqualified to comment on.

Yet this film goes far beyond that. Spike Lee, ever the intersectionalist, unabashedly lays bares the horrors Americans committed in Vietnam. Showing us that the Vietmanese are just more victims of colonial thought and politic.

This is also one of the few (maybe the only?) film about the Vietnam war that I can think of that shows on cameras a genuine portrayal of a panic attack, and PTSD. The film is a great exploration of the trauma's cause by war, and the politics that lead to them. It is also one of the few movies I can think of, that shows the genuine repercussions of war not only on individuals, but on a culture and country as a whole.

Downright Shakespearian in it's writing and presentation. Especially with the recurring soliloquies. Normally I avoid discussing awards in my reviews. Yet in this instance, if Spike Lee, and Delrpy Lindo are not nominated for their work in this film, I will be genuinely shocked.

One of the best films I have ever seen about the Vietnam war and it's long lasting affects. Quite possibly the best work Spike Lee has ever done. An instant recommendation.