Review of Miracle at St. Anna (2008) by Joseph M — 22 Feb 2010

"Miracle at St. Anna" starts in 1984 New York City as a postal worker(Laz Alonso) is so angered from watching "The Longest Day" that he shoots an elderly man he apparently recognizes in cold blood at work.(I know a lot of people are not crazy about John Wayne but come on, it's only a movie.) A cub reporter(Joseph Gordon-Levitt) from the Daily News, late to the scene, is left with following a couple of detectives to the accused's apartment where they discover a priceless Italian artifact. Forty years previously, it is being carried through Italy by Private Sam Train(Omar Benson Miller), one of the legendary Buffalo Soldiers in World War II, four of whom survive to make it across a river where they encounter an orphaned boy(Matteo Sciabordi).

With a convoluted plot that eventually catches up to its broadly sketched characters, "Miracle at St. Anna" suffers from editing so atrocious, that it fails to establish anything about an important character for the sake of making a statement.(There is one edit, the transfer from present to past, that is perfect but I swear I have seen something like that before.) With much that is patently ridiculous about this film, leaving much to be explained by miracles, at least I can understand the postal worker having the gun at work since he feels he might need it for protection. It's how he got it in the first place that troubles me so much, as does how the artifact got to the States as I am sure the Italian authorities would naturally not want such a priceless artifact taken out of the country. And one scene is pure wish fulfillment. At the head of this mess is Spike Lee, who instead of his usual provocative stance, succumbs to pure sentimentality. And then, of course, there is the sexism. Yes, the Buffalo Soldiers deserve to have a movie made about them. But it should be a movie they deserve.