Miracle At St Anna [DVD] [2008]

During Christmas 1983, dedicated New York post clerk Hector Negron (LAZ ALONSO) suddenly shoots a stranger wanting to buy a stamp. After his arrest the police search his small apartment and discover that not only was Negron a soldier in WWII, but won the Purple Heart and more astonishingly owns a valuable Italian marble head which has been missing since the war.

Facing the death penalty for the fatal shooting, Negron is visited by young reporter Tim Boyle (JOSEPH GORDON LEVITT) who wishes to know his story.

Back in 1944, Negron was a member of the 92nd Buffalo soldier infantry regiment fighting the Germans in Italy. After an ambush while crossing the Serchio river, he suddenly finds himself on the enemy held side and cut off from his comrades. A trio of other soldiers have made it across too, Sergeants Stamps and Cummings (DEREK LUKE and MICHAEL EALY) and the towering Private Train (OMAR BENSON MILLAR). Train is carrying the Italian marble head, which he believes is a good luck charm that makes him invisible to the eyes of the enemy.

Establishing radio contact with Headquarters, the four soldiers are ordered to exploit their opportunity and capture a German prisoner. Disheartened by this news, the quartet stumble upon a deserted barn where they find a young boy, Angelo Torancelli (newcomer MATTEO SCIABORDI), who is feverish and shell shocked. Angelo babbles of visions and the deeply religious Train comes to believe the child is in direct contact with God. The soldier nurses the boy until he is fit to walk and lead them to the small village of Colognord. Here they find some of the Italians wishing to help, such as the young woman Renata (the lovely VALENTINA CERVI), who is secretly assisting the local Partisan leader, Peppi Grotta (PIERFRANCESCO FARINO).

Grotta has serious problems. He believes there is a traitor in his Partisan band while the local German commander, the fair Captain Eichholz (CHRISTIAN BERKEL), has received strict orders to quash all resistance whatever the cost.

As the four Americans integrate with the Italian villagers little do they all know that a strong German force is heading over the mountains towards the small village of Colognord ready for a fateful and devastating clash of arms.

Acclaimed and at times controversial Director SPIKE LEE has made an unusual film here. Part war epic, part social drama, it certainly has much to say about Human attitudes to fellow Man and what happens when different creeds are flung together in desperate situations.

Told in a series of flashbacks, with flashbacks within flashbacks such as the brutal massacre of unarmed civilians at St Anna - in a harrowing scene - or the problems the four black soldiers face at an American diner, the film never becomes confusing thanks to the skilful direction.

The final reel brings us back to 1983 and a little of the court case which Negron faces, giving KERRY WASHINGTON a brief role as defence councillor Zana Wilder.

While there are minor problems, such as American uniforms not causing a stir behind enemy lines, these are few and far between. LEE gives us interesting characters and is not afraid to kill them in swift and brutal ways, ensuring the battle scenes remain quite realistic in a SAVING PRIVATE RYAN style.

Several Special Features are included and all are worth a look. There is a brief Making Of (5 minutes), B-Roll footage (13 minutes) and a collection of tiny cast interviews (11 minutes), while, best of all, The Buffalo Soldier Experience, a 21 minute programme exclusive to blu-ray that includes original footage and interviews with veterans.

While perhaps not the blood and guts action film that some people relish, MIRACLE AT ST ANNA is nonetheless compulsive viewing and well recommended.

I was intrigued by this film after seeing the trailer online - it was an interesting premise and I like Spike Lee as a director - he always has something to say beyond just entertaining you. The film kicks off in recent times with a very dramatic opening before moving to flashback where we join the infamously segregated Buffalo Soldiers division in Tuscany as they are being pummelled by Nazi infantry fire - in what can only be described as an epic battle scene to rival any you may have seen in any war film ever made. Some of the men are cut off from their division and end up in a mountain village where they befriend the initially wary villagers and rescue a traumatised young boy who has witnessed a massacre by the Nazi's - as a punishment for recent resistance activity. One of the men carries around with him a dismembered stone head that he rescued from a blitzed bridge - which he believes gives him special protective powers - which he uses to protect the boy....no ordinary war movie for sure - but a totally fresh perspective on a little told aspect of WWII.

This is a movie with an interesting story (e.g. soldiers stuck behind enemy lines) and some interesting aspects (e.g. black American soldiers in WW2) but it goes whizzing off in completely unbelievable and unrealistic directions as Mr Lee tries to make one political statement after another. I think I deserve a medal for sitting through all 156 minutes of this movie.

Mr Lee also squeezes every possible cliche from this movie (e.g. nasty Germans, nasty American officers, nice Italian villagers and, of course, even a treacherous Italian partisan). Why? It just does not work. It just becomes more and more unrealistic.

And then it is sold as an "epic" - I have no idea what this means when pitched against true epics such as 'The Longest Day' and 'A Bridge too far' - and "one of the best battle scenes .. on a par with Saving Private Ryan" - what complete rubbish. If this was a "big budget war epic", it was a complete was of money including the price I paid for the video (which, by the way, was fortunately so low I can not understand how this video scores 4 out of 5 with Amazon).

I will admit however that, given the above, the acting by the lead actors ranged from reasonable to good.