Miracle at St Anna [Blu-ray]

Miracle at St Anna [Blu-ray]

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Editorial Reviews

From award-winning filmmaker Spike Lee comes Miracle At St. Anna, the story of four black American soldiers who are members of the US Army as part of the all-black 92nd Buffalo Soldier division stationed in Tuscany, Italy during WWII. They experience the tragedy and triumph of war as they find themselves trapped behind enemy lines and separated from their unit after one of them risks his life to save an Italian boy. Praised as The best war movie since Saving Private Ryan (Pat Collins, WWOR TV) and One of the year s best (Ben Lyons, E!), and filled with epic battle sequences and action, the film explore deeply inspiring, powerful story drawn from true history, that transcends national boundaries, race and class to touch the goodness within us all. Now even more revealing with exclusive Blu-ray bonus features that bring you even deeper into the world of these unsung heroes.

Every major American filmmaker has a war movie inside them. After the twin triumphs of When the Levees Broke and Inside Man, his biggest box office hit, Spike Lee puts his distinctive stamp on World War II. Though Miracle at St. Anna begins and ends in 1983, most of the action takes place in 1944. The segregation of the time leads to the Army's African-American 92nd Infantry Division. In Italy, four of these Buffalo Soldiers, Sergeants Stamps (Antwone Fisher's Derek Luke) and Bishop (Barbershop's Michael Ealy), Corporal Hector (Jarhead's Laz Alonso), and sweet, superstitious Private Train (The Express's Omar Benson Miller), get separated from their unit while fighting the Germans. On the way to higher ground, Train rescues a boy from the rubble. With nine-year-old Angelo (newcomer Matteo Sciabordi) in tow, the soldiers secure shelter in a Tuscan town, where they band together with the villagers, including lovely English speaker Renata (Artemisia's Valentina Cervi), nurse the delusional boy back to health (he has an imaginary playmate named Arturo), and prepare for the next attack. Like Inside Man, Miracle marks one of the few times Lee has drafted an outsider to write the script, in this case bestselling author James McBride, who adapts from his novel. The combination of sensibilities results in a film that alternates, sometimes awkwardly, between cynicism and sentimentality. Tonal irregularities aside, Miracle at St. Anna pays overdue tribute to the 15,000 men who fought for freedom in a country that showed them greater respect than their nation of origin. --Kathleen C. Fennessy

Customer Reviews

Miracle at Santa Anna

Reviewed by Matti Kniva Spencer, 2010-02-10

Powerful movie, great acting all around, not for the squemish as there are several bloody and hard to watch scenes. However, if you can get by this, it's a top rated action filled movie. It has everything...love, deceit, action, soldiers galore, fighting scenes, etc... A movie well worth purchasing and adding to your collection. The important element to remember is that this is based on a true story... unreal! Spike Lee is the director... need I say more? One of his best ( and we know he's produced some real classic movies ).

An amazing journey of four men!

Reviewed by Ankur Mukherjee, 2010-02-07

I or you may not be much familiar with the historical facts that had actually occured at Tuscany, during the World War II, but here, we still get to see a film full of live charecters with energetic and flamboyant performences. We witness charecters that are genuine, having great chemistry between themselves and to be honest, the way they engage your mind totally, you almost forget to realize how time have passed. 'Miracle at St Anna' is one of those films that will glue your eyes to the screen. There is violence, there is tension, there are moments of alomst every single human emotion. The film is not just a typical world war depiction containing the words 'Brutal' and 'Violence', its much more than that. Its warmhearted, its shocking, its overwhelming and its a journey to remember. A very rare film, worth watching.

Powerful and gripping

Reviewed by Irfan A. Alvi, 2010-02-06

Spike Lee isn't capable of making a less than stellar movie, and this movie is no exception. I'm therefore stunned that there are so many negative reviews, and I can only posit that too many people came to the movie with rigid expectations or were just incapable of relating to the themes which are explored. Those themes, set in the Italy of WWII, are numerous and masterfully layerered and interwoven: the horrors and pointlessness of war, romance and lust, bonds of family, care of children, empathy and brutality, betrayal and revenge, patriotism and alienation, existence of God and the problem of evil, death and afterlife, and especially racism and its transcendence.

As one would expect from a Spike Lee movie, the acting, plot construction, scenery, soundtrack, etc. are all excellent, with the result that this movie is deeply powerful and gripping. The three hours felt like one hour, and I expect to remember this movie for a long time. If I had to complain about something, perhaps the ending was a bit too terse and convenient, but that doesn't do much to diminish my appreciation for this movie.

I highly recommend this movie to any sensitive soul, and of course it's not to be missed by fans of Spike Lee.

Spike's Greatest Miss

Reviewed by Melvin Patterson Jr., 2010-01-31

I waited a long time to purchase this movie because I believed the original asking price was too high. Although I finally got a price I would except, I now feel any price is too high to pay for this movie in any format. Every aspect of this film from script to direction was lacking in so many ways you would believe it to be a television production from the 80's. I would have thought that a story of such historical importance would have been told with more passionate depth in order to rekindle some form of interest in the positive contribrutions of Black Men in America. Instead the amatureish acting coupled with the lack of drama failed to spark any interest in the events depicted int this film at all. Spike and all involved with this movie should have given more thought and heart to these men who sarificed thier lives so honorably in a war where our contribrution is but a whisper in the minds of those who were involved.

Very touching and well made

Reviewed by C. Elie, 2010-01-12

This film should have been made twenty years ago. But better late than never. I think the folks that gave it one star were harsh. Cinematically, it wasn't an easy story to tell, but in the end I thought it was amazing and Spike pulled it off.