Miracle at St. Anna follows four members of the famous “Buffalo Soldiers” Infantry Division as they get trapped behind enemy lines in a remote Tuscan village in Italy. The story follows soldiers Stamps, Bishop, Hector and Train. Separated from the rest of their division, Train finds a lost Italian boy and the group makes it into the heart of a village torn between fascism and war.
The story could have been good, but there was so much wrong with this film that it ended up being a flop. First, the run time was rather long. I think Spike Lee wanted to shoot for something epic, but Miracle just didn’t have the grandiose feel needed to lend it an overall epic feel. The political commentaries were good both from a wartime perspective, and from a racial perspective, but they were over the top. You get the sense that this was written from a jaded perspective, and the sense of honor for the actual Buffalo Soldiers was lost.
Miracle did a good job showing the racism that black troops faced, as well as the struggles that black Americans faced during those times. But the film did a poor job making the characters relatable. Part of this was the fact that the cast overacted almost every scene. I used to be in theatre when I went to school, and I don’t think you’d see a more overacting cast in a high school stage production.
I never really felt a connection to any of the characters, save for a maybe a mild admiration in seeing them struggle. Because the characters felt so two dimensional, I had trouble with relating with the emotion that director Spike Lee tried to convey. The script tried to attach a psychological, almost magical feel to a few of the characters. Instead, it ended up being cheesy and very hard to watch at times. There was also an unnecessary nude scene. As a moviegoer, I don’t mind a nude scene that adds to a story, but this wasn’t necessary, and detracted from the film.
Instead of finishing this film with a sense of pride and accomplishment for the soldiers of the 92nd Infantry Division, I was left with a very wry view of the individuals the film was about. Any time relationships or character development seemed to happen, it would then be shattered by over the top acting or unnecessary political dialogues. Instead of 2 ½ hours of runtime, I believe that a lot of this film could have done okay on the cutting room floor. Had some of the unnecessary parts been trimmed down, I think that Spike Lee might have himself a 2-hour masterpiece. The action was good, the cinematography was good, the dialogue and acting needed to be completely rewritten and they should have done a better job casting. I just couldn’t like this film, no matter how much I wanted to.
How much is truth, and how much is artistic license only God and the soldiers who were there will actually know. But if director Spike Lee portrayed something even close to accurate then my hats off to the brave souls who endured great hardship as part of the Buffalo Soldiers. I hope another movie comes along that better honors these brave men.