Caffeinated Clint
By Ashley Hillard
Spike Lee (“The Inside Man”) brings to life the story of four men serving in the U.S. Army’s all-black 92nd Infantry Division, known as the Buffalo Soldiers, during WWII. Written and based on the book by James McBride, 2nd Staff Sergeant Aubrey Stamps (Derek Luke – “Notorious”), Sergeant Bishop Cummings (Michael Ealy – “Seven Pounds”), Private First Class Sam Train (Omar Benson Miller – “Things We Lost in the Fire”) and Corporal Hector Negron (Laz Alonso – “Stomp the Yard”) face racism and in-fighting in the midst of their battles against the Nazis in war torn Italy.
“Miracle at St. Anna” begins at the end, with an aged Corporal Negron shooting a middle aged man to death. He is brought in for questioning by Detective Tony Ricci (John Turturro – “Tranformers”). The film moves back in time to the events that took place leading up to the shooting.
Against the odds, the men traveling with Negron are able to cross a river that is soon attacked by the U.S. Army. The troops’ commander, racist Colonel Driscoll (D.B. Sweeney, TVs “Harsh Realm”), makes their lives miserable and puts them in immediate danger on numerous occasions. When he gives the orders to open fire on the banks where the men are hiding, they are caught in the middle, and forced to head over the mountain. The men end up in a small Tuscan village where Train finds a boy, Angelo Torancelli (Matteo Sciabordi) who has been orphaned and is wandering in the forest. Train becomes the boy’s guardian and brings Torancelli with him back to the men. They seek help from a family that takes them in and cares for the boy.
More battles ensue as the story moves back and forth to the German soldiers, the Italian Partisans and the Buffalo Soldiers. The boy’s story unfolds as well; his family was killed by German officers led to the area by an Italian man. The Germans are looking for a rogue Italian leader of the Partisan movement known as Peppi “The Great Butterfly†Grotta (Pierfrancesco Favino – “Night at the Museum”). When The Great Butterfly does not show, the Germans slaughter the villagers, leaving Angelo orphaned.
The movie gives an interesting perspective on the war and intertwines several storylines effectively but does not give any one storyline enough attention. With all of the complications, attention is diverted from the family to the soldiers to the past to the present. It also feels too long and the battle scenes are confusing, it’s hard to feel in the moment and get pulled into the story or the action. In the end, there is a reveal that could have been much more powerful if the film was more succinct in its message to the audience and trusted the audience’s intelligence enough to piece the puzzle together on their own. Yes, the soldiers are up against a lot on both sides of the war but it is difficult to focus on their humanity and their story with so many subplots and distractions. It was just reported that Lee now has the rights to another WWII story, “Now the Hell Will Start.†Hopefully this war story will be turned into a stronger film than what Lee had to offer with “Miracle at St.Anna”.
Extras
Two featurettes – one in which Director Spike Lee and World War II veterans from the historic Harlem Veterans’ Club share their intimate experiences from the Great War, and another on The Buffalo Soldier – in which Lee and the cast talk about the deep personal bond that was forged between the soldiers and the Italian citizens during World War II.
