Miracle at St. Anna Rated R (for strong war violence, language and some sexual content/nudity) Genre: War Theater release: September 26, 2008 by Touchstone Pictures Directed by: Spike Lee Runtime: 160 minutes Cast: Derek Luke (2nd Staff Sergeant Aubrey Stamps), Michael Ealy (Sergeant Bishop Cummings), Laz Alonso (Corporal Hector Negron), Omar Benson Miller (Private First Class Sam Train), Matteo Sciabordi (Angelo) Related: • Talk About It/Family Corner • What Others Are Saying

Spike Lee's attempt at a sweeping war epic, Miracle at St. Anna, opens with an aging World War II vet watching the D-Day classic The Longest Day starring John Wayne. As the movie shows white face after white face, the African-American man grimaces and says, "We fought for this country, too."

This important idea of remembering the contributions of black Americans in World War II—when they had few U.S. liberties but were asked to die for their country—is what drew Lee to direct this film. "There's really been a bad job of documenting the contribution African Americans made to their country," he told Entertainment Weekly.

I'm not sure if Lee used the word bad there to signify a lack of quality or quantity, but while his film is wholly dedicated to proclaiming the contributions of the black G.I., it doesn't do much for the quality of this genre. The movie is plagued by an inconsistent tone, scattered focus, cheesy self-indulgence, and irrationally sporadic scenes and characters that aren't believable. The movie wants to have big things to say, but flawed, unfocused storytelling gets in the way.

Derek Luke as 2nd Staff Sergeant Aubrey Stamps

Miracle at St. Anna, written by James McBride, is based on McBride's book of the same name. This tale of historical fiction is inspired by the Sant'Anna di Stazzema massacre of August 1944 where German SS troops brutally slaughtered 560 Italians—mianly women, children, and old men—in retaliaition to partisan activity in the area.

The film, like the book, is only very loosely based on the tragic event. In fact, it takes up less than 10 minutes of the very long film and only serves to set the story arc for two characters. To be sure, this film is not about the historical events in Italy of 1944, but instead is created to probe the plight of African-American soldiers, belief in a good God in an ugly world, and the existence of miracles.

If that seems like a mouthful of tricky and complex issues for a war film to tackle—and a strange combination at that—it's because it is. Had the film narrowed its aim, it could have had a greater impact. Instead, it tries to do so much that it really says nothing. There's a lot of God talk, but what does it amount to? What is the film saying about race beyond the obvious one-note message of "black soldiers went through a lot"?

Omar Benson Miller as Train, Matteo Sciabordi as Angelo

There's a bigger question here for filmgoers as well: Do themes of racial justice, the ugliness of war, and pseudo-magical realism really fit well together? Will audiences coming for either a war film or Spike Lee social commentary buy a shift at the end where very otherworldly things occur?

The movie begins in 1984 with a compelling murder mystery. After an aging black postal worker kills a customer in cold blood with a German Lugar, detectives find something odd in his home. It is the 450-year-old head of a statue that's been missing from a bridge in Florence, Italy, since 1944. When a young reporter questions the killer in jail, he drops a Rosebud-type tease: "I know who the Sleeping Man is."

The rest of the movie consists of this man telling his story. It involves four 92nd Infantry Buffalo Soldiers trapped deep in enemy territory after a white superior doesn't trust his black soldiers and a mission goes horribly wrong. One of the four troopers, Sam Train (Omar Benson Miller), is a gentle giant who stumbles onto a lone, injured boy (Matteo Sciabordi). The four soldiers and the boy find their way to an occupied village surrounded by Germans. There, they wait for help. Allegiances are tested, the soldiers clash over the merits of fighting for the U.S., and the boy seems to be more than they've bargained for.

Angelo bonds with Corporal Negron (Laz Alonso)

While the mystery is very provocative at first, the disjointed plot forced me to care very little for what happens. Part of the reason is that Miracle doesn't seem to have any one point of view, and without a united, central perspective to hold things together and give us eyes through which to see the story, the storyline feels very random and meandering. And there are scenes—including a fairly long one with John Leguizamo—that have absolutely no reason to be in the movie.

Plot developments feel forced and stilted. Characters act irrationally and make seemingly out-of-the-blue decisions that one would only make because they're necessary to the script. For instance, a married woman in the village is sexually harassed by one of the soldiers for most of the film with little reaction. Near the end, she suddenly chooses to sleep with him. Why? I have no idea. What purpose does this even serve the film (other than giving it some nudity)? No clue. Like this, several contrived conversations, character shifts and nonsensical plot changes make the film hard to invest in. Case in point: Although the four lost soldiers are so deep in enemy territory they can't escape, other U.S. soldiers—who were seemingly far away—are able to just waltz in to check on them. What??

The men and Angelo in the village

In the end, the answers to the movie's mysteries are either predictable or unsatisfactory. For instance, the identity of the Sleeping Man has no relevance to anything. In fact, once you know what he's talking about, it makes no sense why a man in jail for murder would tearfully blurt out anything about it.

The redeeming factors to Miracle include how seriously the movie takes faith. In fact, three of the four featured soldiers exhibit differing levels of Christian faith. One is a preacher who has lost his faith with all he's seen at war. Another is a reverent, serious believer who kisses his crucifix to remind him "who my Father is." And Train believes with a simple, excitable and childlike faith. With these multiple views, there are some decent God questions brought up in a faith-affirming way.

But the shimmering positive of the movie is the wonderful relationship between the big-hearted Train and Angelo, the Italian boy he protects. The love they develop for one another is sweet and sets up one of the messages that works in Miracle at St. Anna: Mercy extended is one of life's greatest miracles. Characters, one-by-one, are saved by the mercy of others even in a dark and horrible world where the film argues that all of us—Nazis, racist Americans, African Americans, terrorists, Italian villagers—have the same capacity to be entirely evil to one another.

Talk About It

Discussion starters

1. There's a scene of many different groups—a German, Italian villagers, soldiers—all praying the same prayer in separate places. What do you think this is communicating? What message were the filmmakers sending? Why do you think that? 2. Bishop says that while he used to believe what he once preached, he's seen too much in war to believe that now. He wonders why God would allow killing. If you were in that conversation, what would you say? How do you balance the goodness of a just God with the ugliness of the world? 3. The four black soldiers are treated horribly when they visit a white man's ice cream shop. They return with force. What message do you think the film was trying to send with that? And what inadvertent messages could it be sending? Do you think the film advocates what the soldiers do? 4. One of the Italian partisans, called a "terrorist" by the Nazis, asks, "What's the difference between [our enemies] and us in the eyes of God?" How do you answer that? Is there a difference? When we and our enemies both pray to the same God for victory, how does he choose to be with?

The Family Corner

For parents to consider

Miracle at St. Anna is rated R for strong war violence, language and some sexual content/nudity. The violence is very pervasive with a lot of blood and gore—including stabbings, dismemberments, mass executions of innocents, and point-blank shots to the head. One soldier uses a bayonet on a baby—but it is not shown, only implied. Language includes just about everything you can think of including at least a dozen uses of the Lord's name in vain, racial epithets, and several f-words. There are two sexual scenes—one where a woman in see-through lingerie entices a man by sitting on his lap and kissing him and one sex scene involving an extramarital affair. Three scenes feature partial female nudity; one is pretty drawn out.

Photos © Copyright Touchstone Pictures

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