In 1983, Hector Negron (Laz Alanso) shot a man in cold blood. A seemingly upright citizen and decorated war veteran, Hector does not seem to have any motive for the crime. Cub reporter Tim Boyle (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) takes interest in the story especially after helping find a priceless artifact in Hector’s apartment. This drives Tim to question Hector about the intriguing mystery, which began in 1944 Italy.
In 1944, four buffalo soldiers end up trapped in a small Tuscan villa during World War II after one of the soldiers risks his life to save an injured boy.
The story is inspired by the August 1944 Sant'Anna di Stazzema massacre perpetrated by the Waffen-SS in retaliation to Italian partisan activity. According to the Buffalo Soldier National Museum: 500,000 Blacks were stationed overseas, amounting to 4% of the 11 million Americans who served on foreign shores during World War 2. About 10% of blacks were in combat units. The all-black 92nd Infantry was in Italy, and had 616 killed in action and 2,187 wounded.
The movie was actually done fairly well and its lackluster performance in the box office is rather disappointing. The movie is rather epic in scope and actually provides a point of view from all sides involved in the war. Some moments occur where I thought, “okay Spike, I get it. White people are racist…” All in all however, I thought it was a pretty good war movie. While it’s not Saving Private Ryan, Platoon, or Dirty Dozen, Miracle at St Anna is one of the better war movies I have seen in a while. If you like war movies, I recommend giving this one a shot. Just remember its rated R and leave the kids at home.
Grade: C+
No comments:
Post a Comment