Director: Spike Lee
Production Company: Touchstone Pictures
Cast: Derek Luke, Michael Ealy, Laz Alonso, Omar Benson Miller, Matteo Sciabordi, John Leguizamo, Joseph Gordon Levitt, Valentina Cervi, Pierfrancesco Favino
Rating: R for strong war violence, language and some sexual content/nudity
By Gregg Tubbs
UMC.org—"Safety is an illusion that rules out miracles, the only real certainty in life." This strangely illuminating line comes at the end of director Spike Lee’s ambitious and imperfect film, Miracle at St. Anna. Yet, it is the notion that hovers over this gritty, harrowing war film—the idea that in the most desperate situations, the protection of small miracles may always be at work. With St. Anna, Lee explores race, his most familiar subject, in the context of our most celebrated conflict, World War II. Most surprising, however, is the film’s exploration of the question of religious faith—how it drives men to war, sustains them through it, or unexpectedly blossoms in the midst of it.
Despite the scores of World War II movies, very few depict black soldiers. Director Spike Lee makes this point in the very first scene of Miracle at St. Anna. Watching an old, all-white John Wayne war movie, a black veteran bitterly mutters, "We fought for this country too." With St. Anna, Lee aims to set this wrong right by focusing on the role of the all-black 92nd Buffalo Soldier Division stationed in Tuscany, Italy.
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When an assault on a river-side Nazi stronghold goes awry, Hector (Laz Alonso), Stamps (Derek Luke), Dutch (Michael Ealy), and Train (Omar Miller) are cut off from the rest of their unit behind enemy lines and take refuge in an Italian village. Copyright © 2008 Touchstone Pictures.
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St. Anna, like many Lee films, often defies convention. It is a war film, framed as a murder mystery and told mostly through flashbacks. The murder is blunt and unexpected. In 1984 New York, a post office employee unexpectedly shoots a customer with a vintage WWII German Luger. When police search his apartment, they find a priceless artifact—the missing head of a famous Renaissance statue—hidden away in his closet. What was behind the murder? How were the victim and killer connected, and why did the killer have the marble likeness of an angelic woman (worth millions) in his humble apartment? With this mystery in place, Lee sends us back to 1944 to learn the truth.
When an assault on a riverside Nazi stronghold goes awry, four of the "Buffalo Soldiers" are cut off from the rest of their unit behind enemy lines and take refuge in an Italian village. To a certain extent, their characters represent stock war movie stereotypes, but they also help to symbolize various aspects of race. We have Stamps (Derek Luke), the level-headed sergeant; Dutch (Michael Ealy), the rebel with a chip on his shoulder; Hector (Laz Alonso), the "ethnic" Puerto Rican; and Train (Omar Miller), the simple and gentle giant who becomes inseparable from Angelo (Matteo Sciabordi), the injured Italian boy who endearingly calls him his "chocolate giant."
The film explores the many dimensions of racism—from the subtle curiosity and ignorance of Angelo and the Italian villagers to the shockingly direct hatred of both the Nazis and the soldiers’ own white officers. We see both the ugly racism of the German propaganda that portrays black soldiers as rabid apes, and the snide divisiveness of a Nazi version of Tokyo Rose whose radio broadcasts try to persuade the black soldiers to desert by reminding them they are fighting for a country that sees them as second-class citizens. Even worse, we see through flashbacks to boot camp how they were indeed mistreated. The film succeeds in showing how wars, begun between opposing ideologies, are often sustained by racial hatred.
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Angelo (Matteo Sciabordi), the injured Italian boy, endearingly calls Train (Omar Miller) his “chocolate giant” and the two become inseparable. Copyright © 2008 Touchstone Pictures.
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But it’s the film’s exploration of the role of religion in war that hits the hardest. There are many subtle touches like the background posters that declare, "Victory will be ours because God is on our side," and a stirring scene between Train, who has the faith of a child, and the cynical Dutch, who says he can’t believe in a God who allows such killing. All the while, it’s obvious that Dutch, in his heart of hearts, does believe. Most striking is the scene showing Germans, Italians and Americans alike preparing for battle by praying to the same Christian God and quoting from the same Bible.
Miracle at St. Anna is far from perfect: it is overlong and sometimes plods when it should soar. Yet when it works, it presents a powerful story that needs to be told about the important role of African-Americans in World War II that has been sadly overlooked. The film also succeeds in making us think about the role religion plays in war, and leads us to an awareness of the good, courageous—and even miraculous— all around us.
Study Questions
- How have the contributions of African Americans in the American military been overlooked in the movies? Were you familiar with the Buffalo Soldiers? Have you heard of the Tuskegee Airmen?
- Did this film have a conventional "hero"? If so, who? Which of the soldiers did you identify with the most?
- How did you react to the broadcasts of Axis Sally? Was she entirely wrong? What scenes in the film support her accusations?
- When Stamps said he felt freer in Italy than in America, what did he mean? Did the film support his statement?
- Why do you believe the film was called Miracle at St. Anna? What happened at St. Anna that was miraculous?
- Were there other miracles in the film? What were they?
- In the film, Dutch quotes the Bible in explaining how racism is passed from one generation to another. Are you familiar with the passage? What does this verse refer to and how has it been misused? (See Proverbs 22:6.)
- Where in the film did we see faith combine with courage? Has your faith ever given you courage?
- Who was the "sleeping man"? How did the Italian villagers combine religion with superstition?
- In the end, does the film come down on the side for or against miracles? What about faith? Which character had the most faith? Which benefited most from miracles?
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