John Turturro, D.B. Sweeney, Michael Ealy

Set in 1944 Italy, the story of four black American soldiers who get trapped in a Tuscan village during WWII.

Flixster Users

58% liked it

3,259 ratings

Critics

33% liked it

112 critics

R, 2 hrs. 40 min.

Directed by: Spike Lee

Release Date: September 7, 2008

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DVD Release Date: February 10, 2009

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Flixster Reviews (1,401)


  • August 21, 2009
    2 hours and 40 minutes is a long time to endure a barrage of one-dimensional characters. Unlike other recent war films that vividly capture the chaos and mayhem of battle, Miracle at St. Anna seems contrived and overly scripted. This isn't combat through the eyes of sold...( read more)iers, this is a perception of combat through the eyes of a director.

    As much as I admire Spike Lee, and as much as I really (REALLY) wanted to like this film, I just couldn't. This one is far too cliche to be taken seriously.
  • July 5, 2009
    The power of this film for me was lost in the inaccuracies of the styling and slang language used by some of the characters. The slang kept me from believing it was 1944. Aside from this loss of power, the plot was great and the characters of Train and Angelo were superb. The ...( read more)film is much too long and could have played better if cut by forty minutes or more.
  • April 30, 2009
    Spike Lee shot himself in the foot when he criticized Clint Eastwood's two-film Iwo Jima masterpiece for not showing the role of African Americans during WW2. First off, the Japanese army didn't have any black soldiers, and second, Flags of Our Fathers does talk about how minori...( read more)ties were mistreated at this time, despite their contributions to the war effort.
    But Miracle at St Anna really is a great film, nowhere near as good as Eastwood's films, but still worthy of attention. It depicts in harrowing detail how all black soldiers were seen pretty much as Operation Human Shield throughout much of the war. Even the Germans were able to point that out to them. Lee also shows the division of black soldiers between themselves. There's a great scene where one soldier flirts with an Italian lady, and another onlooking soldier says, "People like him have set our people back almost 400 years." A little on the nose, but the line gets the job done.
    Lee has always been a very ambitious filmmaker, and here, he tries to cover the battle from all angles: the peasant Italians, the Italian renegades, the Nazis, the white Americans, and of course the black Americans. At times, the film seems to wander on tangeants, but the emotional impact that Lee is aiming for is never lost. Even as cheesy as the last sequence is, it puts the title into a lot of perspective.
  • April 28, 2009
    This has got to be the greatest disappointment when it comes to Spike Lee. For me, he is one of the most brilliant directors alive -he's offered cinema a plethora of masterpieces, but with Miracle at St. Anna...he misses the mark by far.

    The performances are excellent -n...( read more)o arguments there. The beginning and ending also great -just a touch of bitter satisfaction. The cultural significance also worth paying attention to and it hits several humanity chords in each person -especially the ambush scene at the end and the scene at the church.

    Despite all those, the film is literally endless. I saw it on DVD and had to stop it and resume it over the course of several days. For those who watched it in cinema it was probably a Golgotha to sustain through. Several elements could have easily been left out and still making sense. It's a movie that is self-righteous and self-important, it's extremely pointless and at the end it doesn't leave you with many things to work with. The emotional depth of some of the characters is lacking and several racial slurs are way too pretentious.

    I only rate this movie highly because of Spike Lee's direction and several components that if viewed separately are worth it.
  • April 4, 2009
    It was a little long, but it was a good story. I loved the relationship between the little boy and the solider. The ending was perfect.
  • November 9, 2009
    Thought that it was going to be good but it ended up being long and kinda boring
  • November 7, 2009
    In World War II there were heroes and miracles in Tuscan, Italy. In December 1983, as the elder Hector Negron is interviewed by a reporter after shooting a man at the post office and when his wardrobe revealed the long-lost head of the statue Primavera, he recalls his role in the...( read more) African-American 92nd Division "Buffalo Soldiers" that took safety in a small Italian village while they were caught behind enemy lines and surrounded by German troops. With him and three other soldiers is the eight-year-old Angelo Torancelli, a lone survivor of the St. Anna massacre.

    Directed by Spike Lee, Miracle At St. Anna features superior acting performances from the following cast:
    1.) Derek Luke (2nd Staff Sgt. Aubrey Stamps)
    2.) Michael Ealy (Sgt. Bishop Cummings)
    3.) Laz Alonso (Corp. Hector Negron)
    4.) Omar Benson Miller (Pvt. First Class Sam Train)
    5.) Matteo Sciabordi (Angelo Torancelli)

    It was a clue to a mystery that began 39 years earlier.

    (Review coming soon...)
  • November 5, 2009
    Heart-wrenching, tear-jerking tale about doing the right thing...even in the worst of situations.
  • November 2, 2009
    D.B, sweeney is always a treat for me.
  • October 31, 2009
    Overall, the film is ok. The performances by this ensemble is really good. It kind of reminded me of films like We Were Soldiers and Inglorious Bastards. Also the ending scene reminded me of the ending scene of The Shawshank Redemption. The main negative of the film is the pacing...( read more) which is completely off.

Critic Reviews


September 26, 2008
Mick LaSalle, San Francisco Chronicle

The impulse here is to say something about the nobility of this movie's intent or to note that Spike Lee is one of our best filmmakers. But the first and most honest thing to say about Miracle at St. ... full review

September 26, 2008
Colin Covert, The Minneapolis Star Tribune

Miracle is far from the sensitive racial politics Lee is capable of delivering, but darned if it isn't rousing good fun. full review

September 26, 2008
Liam Lacey, Globe and Mail

Though it runs for roughly two hours and 40 minutes, there's nothing particularly epic about Spike Lee's version of the war. full review

September 26, 2008
A.O. Scott, The New York Times

Setting the record straight after so many years and so many movies is not necessarily a simple undertaking, and this film sometimes stumbles under its heavy, self-imposed burden of historical signific... full review

September 25, 2008
Claudia Puig, USA Today

Miracle at St. Anna aspires to be epic, but mostly it's just unfocused, sprawling and badly in need of editing. full review

September 25, 2008
Bob Mondello, NPR.org

Some themes are familiar, others freshly provocative. But nearly all get scattered as screenwriter James McBride lets the story drift off in six directions at once. full review

September 25, 2008
Bob Mondello, NPR

Some themes are familiar, others freshly provocative. But nearly all get scattered as screenwriter James McBride lets the story drift off in six directions at once. full review

September 25, 2008
Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times

There are scenes that could have been lost to more decisive editing, but I found after a few days that my mind did the editing for me, and I was left with lasting impressions. full review

September 24, 2008
Armond White, The New York Press

As another example of Lee settling scores, it ruins its own premise by attempting to out-do Saving Private Ryan. full review

September 22, 2008
David Edelstein, New York Magazine

Lee screws up his best ideas by trying to blow us away. full review

View more Miracle at St. Anna reviews at RottenTomatoes.com

Comments


  • EbertsLittleApprentice
    September 18, 2009
    F**k armand white, you are always like a.o. scott, and mick lasalle giving the bad movies good reviews and the good ones bad reviews.
  • robertallenandersonjr
    September 10, 2008
    Who thinks it will be any good?

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