Book Study: THE MIRACLE AT ST. ANNA, James McBride

Published: 2003; Number of pages: 320
Dialectic Journal: 79 pages, 34,026 words, visuals

Movie: Spike Lee,  2008 premier,Running Time 2 hours, 40 minutes

Review: Hollywood War, Revised Edition, NY Times, Sept. 25. 2008: A.O. Scott

A.O Scott of the NY Times did not appreciate this film.  I, however, was surprised at Spike Lee for abandoning NYC as his backdrop and going to Europe to shoot this film about the Buffalo Soldiers in Italy during WWII (1944).

He keeps true to his Black Themes while commenting on the sympathetic Italians and the brutal German opposition.  It certainly is a war movie, but loses litlle in explaining the brutality of life within and without the community.  The main theme is for an uneducated Black giant survives in the material and spiritual world of Black life.  This giant ares for a little boy who has been through a brutal attack inside an Italian church, barely survives, seems redeemed and dies violently, only to reappear and save the day.

I loved the film.  Never have taught it, but I imagine the HS students would love it.