Sunday, September 28, 2008
A+E, Movies, Reviews
Spike Lee war epic is no ‘Miracle’
The only thing epic about 'Miracle at St. Anna' is its two-and-a-half-hours-plus running time
Courtesy of Touchstone Pictures
Omar Benson Miller, Michael Ealy, Derek Luke and Laz Alonzo
“MIRACLE AT ST. ANNA”
Derek Luke, Michael Ealy
Directed by Spike Lee
Rated R
Wide release
The story Spike Lee wants to tell in “Miracle at St. Anna” is of the struggles black soldiers faced in their segregated units during World War II. That’s a story that can’t be told too often, but Lee has set out to make an epic, and the only thing epic about it is its two-and-a-half-hours-plus running time.
“Miracle” gets off to a good start in 1984. Postal worker Hector Negron (Laz Alonso) watches an old John Wayne war movie in his Harlem apartment. As the white men win the war, Negron grumbles, “We fought for this country, too.” Then he goes to work and shoots a customer in the head, point-blank.
A lengthy flashback takes us to Tuscany in 1944, where a white officer’s incompetence gets Negron and three other men from the 92nd Infantry Division—known as the Buffalo Soldiers—separated from their unit behind enemy lines. Led by Sgt. Stamps (Derek Luke), they include light-skinned narcissist Sgt. Bishop Cummings (Michael Ealy) and gentle giant PFC Train (Omar Benson Miller). They hide in a village, where they meet a beautiful woman (Valentina Cervi) Stamps and Bishop fight over. There’s also a band of local partisans—and, it develops, a traitor in their midst.
There are occasional skirmishes, accompanied by close-ups of severed body parts, but mostly there’s a lot of talk, with Americans, Italians and Germans offering three or four perspectives on events (in their respective languages) without serving any dramatic purpose.
What’s miraculous about the incident at St. Anna? Don’t ask. It’s based on a true event in which 560 Italian civilians were massacred by German soldiers. But the miracles here are of Hollywood formula, not of God.
The performances are decent, but the characters aren’t very well developed, considering the amount of time available to them. As WWII stories go, Spike Lee’s attempt to correct the color balance has given first-class soldiers a second-class movie. 2.5 STARS—Steve Warren