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Bravery of Buffalo Soldiers Belatedly Acknowledged by Spike Lee’s
WWII Saga
Miracle at St. Anna
Review by Kam Williams
Michael Ealy (Sgt. Bishop Cummings), Laz Alonso (Corp. Hector
Negron), Derek Luke (2nd Staff Sgt Aubrey Stamps),
and Omar Benson Miller (Private 1st Class Sam Train)
During World War II, the United States Armed Forces were still
segregated, and the government directed embedded cameramen not to
film or photograph any black soldiers on the front lines.
Consequently, African-American GIs were invisible not only in
official news footage, but later when it came time to write the
history books and to shoot Hollywood movies.
As a Baby Boomer, I distinctly remember being virtually raised on
sentimental, patriotic war flicks which invariably suggested that
all of the country’s heroes had been white, misleading accounts
which stood in sharp contrast to the stories simultaneously being
shared with me by my father, my uncles and other
honorably-discharged veterans. Regrettably, this slight against them
was never corrected during most of their lifetimes.
Even relatively-recent World War II cinematic adventures, such as
Clint Eastwood’s Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima,
have continued to overlook the bravery of the so-called Buffalo
Soldiers. This makes Spike Lee’s Miracle at St. Anna an important
contribution simply by virtue of its being brought to the big screen
at all, for it pays tribute to the service, albeit belatedly, of the
long-neglected black members of “America's Greatest Generation.”
The movie was adapted by James McBride from his fact-based
best-seller of the same name, a 300+ page-turner chronicling the
exploits of the all-black 92nd Division stationed in Italy in 1944.
This character-driven tale specifically telescopes on the plight of
a quartet of enlisted men separated from their decimated unit and
forced to survive by their wits in a tiny Tuscan village located
behind enemy lines.
Each of the four protagonists represents a readily-recognizable
archetype, starting with Aubrey Stamps (Derek Luke), the
prototypical no-nonsense Staff Sergeant and highest ranking officer.
Then there’s the preacher-turned-playboy Bishop Cummings (Michael
Ealy), gentle giant Sam Train (Omar Benson Miller) and Puerto Rican
Hector Negron (Laz Alonso), a Corporal who adds a little Latin flava’.
 The
movie opens and closes in New York City in 1983, courtesy of a
wraparound featuring sixty-something Negron going postal just three
months before his planned retirement. Was there perhaps a valid
reason for his seemingly inexplicable violent outburst? The bulk of
the balance of the picture is devoted to an extended wartime
flashback wherein the answer ostensibly lies.
While only indirectly addressing the solution to that mystery, the
multi-layered plot instead concerns itself with threading in an
array of complicated sidebars. One involves Private Train’s adopting
a boy (Matteo Sciabordi) orphaned by a Nazi massacre. Another pits
gentlemanly Sgt. Stamps against the womanizing Bishop in a love/lust
triangle for the affections of the most attractive lass (Valentina
Cervi) in town. The third strand raises the question of the
trustworthiness of the leader (Pierfrancesco Favino) of the local
cell of the anti-Fascist resistance.
Nonetheless, the power of Miracle at St. Anna repeatedly derives
from its plausibly portraying the Second World War from the
heretofore unseen perspective of African-American soldiers, whether
they’re shown secretly spitting into the canteen of a racist white
superior, wondering why they’re risking their lives for a country
where they can’t even vote, or reflecting on actually feeling more
free in a foreign land than they ever have at home. An overdue
history lesson about the indelible stain left by Jim Crow on the
conflicted minds of black men forced to wage a white man’s war when
they’d really prefer to be fighting for their own civil rights.
 1/2
R for graphic war violence, profanity, ethnic slurs, nudity and
sexual content.
Running time: 160 minutes
Studio: Touchstone Pictures
To see a trailer for Miracle at St. Anna, visit:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXMVLN5rqpA
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