Miracle at St. Anna

September 25, 2008 by The Associated Press | Staff

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In Spike Lee's long, eclectic career, "Miracle at St. Anna" is easily his most technically ambitious film.

After acclaimed character dramas ("Malcolm X," "Do the Right Thing"), some ill-fated comedies ("Bamboozled," "She Hate Me") and even a documentary or two ("4 Little Girls"), Lee takes on a big, old-fashioned war picture.

But he might not have been ready for such an immense project. "St. Anna" is wildly unfocused in tone and, at two hours and 40 minutes, is unjustifiably overlong. Lee didn't rein in James McBride -- who based the screenplay on his novel of the same name -- perhaps because he feels so strongly about the subject matter.

"Miracle" tells of the men of the 92nd Infantry Division, black troops who served in Italy during World War II and were known as Buffalo Soldiers. Lee has long been critical of films about the war such as Clint Eastwood's "Flags of Our Fathers" and "Letters From Iwo Jima" for depicting only white U.S. troops. This is his response -- full of unmistakable anger.

In following four soldiers (Derek Luke, Michael Ealy, Laz Alonso and Omar Benson Miller) trapped behind enemy lines in Tuscany, Lee jumps from visceral battle scenes to intimate drama to lighthearted comedy. Unfortunately, he smothers all in Terence Blanchard's horn-heavy score.

His war violence (shot vividly by Matthew Libatique) is bloody and gritty. He holds nothing back. But there's clearly enough intensity there that he doesn't need to amp it up through music.

Beginning in 1983 New York, but mostly told in flashback, "Miracle at St. Anna" follows earnest Staff Sgt. Aubrey Stamps (Luke), smooth-talking Sgt. Bishop Cummings (Ealy), Puerto Rican translator Cpl. Hector Negron (Alonso) and sweet, lumbering Pfc. Sam Train (Miller). They're sent to cross the Serchio River, but are meant to get blown up to ferret out the enemy. Having survived, they take in an injured boy (Matteo Sciabordi) and hide out in a Tuscan village, where the locals are initially wary of these heavily armed GIs, but slowly warm to them.

Train totes a piece from a demolished bridge: a stone sculpture of a woman's head, swearing it's good luck. Part of the point of "Miracle" is uncovering the mystery of its meaning.

The other mystery, though, involves little Angelo, who seems to have a saintly quality about him. He forges an unlikely bond with Train, a much-needed source of warmth, and one of the few elements Lee calibrates just right.

He does coax some strong performances from his large cast, namely Luke, the earthy Valentina Cervi as a villager who befriends the soldiers, and Pierfrancesco Favino as an Italian partisan leader.

But after finding some subtleties through those characters, moments like the film's climax -- the horrific event that took place at St. Anna and explains everything -- veer to the opposite extreme. And the absolute ending, when it finally comes, bangs you over the head in a completely different way that is no less strenuous.

- By Christy Lemire / Associated Press