by Thomas Ferguson

Spike Lee is back with another one of his “joints”, a war epic entitled Miracle at St. Anna. Unfortunately, the true miracle for me was resisting the overwhelming urge to walk out of the theater.

Four African-American soldiers (Derek Luke, Michael Ealy, Laz Alonzo, and Omar Benson Miller), fighting in Italy during WWII, find themselves trapped behind enemy lines after one of them risks his life to save a young Italian boy (Matteo Sciabordi).The four seek refuge in a village that has held their ground against German attack for three years. The villagers help the soldiers and the little boy get well as they wait for further instructions from the rest of their company who are trying to locate and rescue them. Unaware that German forces are slowly approaching with instructions to kill anyone in their path. While waiting, two of the soldiers fall for a gorgeous villager (Valentina Cervi) and this strong attraction clouds their judgement, causing unneeded friction between the soldiers.

Based on the novel by James McBride, who also penned the screenplay, Miracle at St. Anna is a story of war, brotherhood, spirituality, and an unexplained miracle. I have been hearing the most encouraging early reviews about this film. Some people are actually calling this movie one of the best movies of the year. I say to these people with all do respect....Do you get out much?

To the movies, I mean.  Mr. Lee is a genius filmmaker, that fact is undeniable, but his latest entry is a hodgepodge of concepts and story lines that are confusing and downright boring. It was like three movies all rolled into one and with its near three hour running time, let’s just say, you feel every minute of those three hours.

Now to be fair, Mr. Lee has a brilliant eye for visuals. The cinematography was stellar, on par with his masterpiece Malcolm X, but the story itself had no spark. The performances were all impressive, but this was one of  the most uninteresting war pictures I believe I’ve ever seen.

I also was not prepared for so many subtitles. I applaud his ambition and his willingness to step outside the box. He gives us something we have never seen from him before. Unfortunately, we have seen it time and time again from other filmmakers.Just a confusing movie that tried to be more epic than it really was.