Cool Christmas Gifts

My next movie review is for Miracle At Saint Anna.

My Miracle At Saint Anna Review checks out the World War II movie made by Spike Lee.  Going in, I felt this would be very interesting to see as Spike Lee’s other movies tend to take on an urban American theme and had heard some mixed reviews of this movie good and bad.  With this said, here is how I saw it in my humble opinion.

What I Liked About It?

Miracle At Saint Anna had some interesting action scenes.  There is one scene very early on that film that instantly grips you and gets your attention.  Unfortunately, the film loses this gained attention and will go up and down like this throughout the film.

Another aspect that I found interesting was the multi-level dynamic that was going on with the Buffalo soldier regiment that was the focal point of the film.  The story actually focuses on four soldiers and covers topics like fighting as a black man for a white America, feeling more free in a foreign country, dealing with personal differences among the four, and struggling to keep alive and dealing with their thoughts on god.  The movie does a pretty good job of juggling all these things although white audiences may be leery of the racial issues in the film.  In actuality, it is not that bad, but Spike Lee does flirt with this line in the movie.

Some very likable characters in the film as one is dubbed a “Chocolate Giant” by a young Italian child.  His own superstitions and mannerisms make him a crowd favorite and an endearing character.  Other characters are painted as good and bad in different situations which makes their characters seem more authentic and realistic.

Finally, perhaps the most interesting aspect of the film is offers different points of view from all sides: American soldiers, German soldiers, Partisans, and towns people.  I believe this adds to the film although probably works better in a book than in a movie.

What I Did Not Like?

Some camera work early in the film dealt with building almost a motif about going down these corridors.  Whatever they were going for was missed though as I found it simply annoying and wasted film.  Would have been better to build up tension in some other way.

Another thing I did not like was there was no heroism or valor in the fighting.  Instead, a major focus seemed to be on showing the dissent of the soldiers and the needlessness of fighting.  Common complaints through the film were being hungry or not trusting commanders or simply wanting to go home.  Then, when the fighting carried on it seemed to be totally random on what would happen.  As one with no combat experience, I have no frame of reference for this, but found the lack of some valor or honor in their fighting to be a turnoff.

Overall Review

After thinking about this movie, I cannot say I thought this was a great film.  It wasn’t that it was a bad film, I think it is a decent one.  However, the problem with the film to me is there was no transcendence.  It was hard to overly identify with the characters which I think was unfortunate.  So although it was a good movie that played on some interesting themes, I felt like it was more like a work in progress that needed to be fine tuned and tweeked.  Perhaps a more uplifting message from the film would have made it be more popular with audiences.  I give this film a B-.  If you would like to purchase this film on DVD, you can at Miracle At Saint Anna Review.