MIRACLE AT ST. ANNA EXPOSES THE RACISM OF THE “GREATEST GENERATION”
Based on the novel by James McBride, Miracle at St. Anna will keep filmviewers in suspense to ascertain what exactly is the “miracle.” In 1983, when the film begins, Hector Negrón (played by Laz Alonso) is watching a World War II movie, The Longest Day, starring John Wayne. His comment is that the action leaves out the role of the segregated African American units of the armed forces that fought in the war, in particular the 92nd Regiment in which he served (though the remark might also be inferred as an acerbic critique of Clint Eastwood’s 2006 films Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima, where no African Americans are portrayed). The next scene takes place at the Manhattan post office where Negrón works. When a patron approaches his window, Negrón recognizes him from his past, pulls out a gun, and shoots him dead. Police investigating his apartment after his arrest find his Purple Heart and a sculpted marble head long missing from a bridge in Florence. The action next reverts to 1944, when Negrón and three fellow African Americans survive the crossing of a river that leads to the town of Sant’Anna di Stazzema. Subplots then emerge. The townspeople are not loyal to Mussolini but one prominent person is. A guerrilla group fighting the Germans, known as the Partisans, comes into town with a German prisoner, whereas earlier its attack on German troops provoked a massacre of the people for which one of the Partisans, who is responsible, tries to cover up by killing the prisoner when he is alone with him, and he even fails to warn the American troops of the advance of a German column toward the town. Directed by Spike Lee, there are a few references to racist America, especially the belief of members of the Black regiment that they were accepted by the Italians and given more freedom in that country than in the USA. The Political Film Society has nominated Miracle at St. Anna for an award as best film exposé and best film on human rights of 2008 for its portrayal of the discrimination suffered by and the heroism of the segregated Black companies during World War II. MH