Saw the December presentation “Miracle at St. Anna” tonight.
It was a L O N G movie with lots of really good pieces to it. Unfortunately, those pieces
largely went unfulfilled and like the eventual ending itself, most of the different story lines just petered out and vanished in wasted anticlimax.
The strong point of the movie was violence. It was a movie that honored killing. Its attempts to show irony were largely confusing such as the montage in which several groups of Americans, Germans, Italians and probably others were engaged in various venues saying an apparently simultaneous prayer to the same Christian “god”. I was prepared for some great climax to come forth. But . . .?
There were some really good lines. But they were lost in the gruesome gulp of the NEXT SCENE. I only remember one now - two young boys, one 8 the other perhaps 10, standing together after witnessing massive killing and the older one says with the wisdom of an ancient master: “This was our time to be kids.” Bang - NEXT SCENE - on with the movie. The show MUST go on! (What show? We just ran over it!)
Silence really CAN be golden.
There were a lot of really good stories in this movie. But they weren't told. Spike Lee could have produced 10 or 15 GREAT movies of about an hour in length and solidified his place as a great story teller forever. But not if he puts them all in the same two and a half hour long fruitcake.
I loved the Chocolate Giant. But he didn’t belong here. Could he have been another Old Man and the Sea? Maybe. Maybe not - we’ll never know. The Louisiana slurpy shop was fine until it got carried away with drawn guns and all kinds of action but nothing significant resulting. Let’s face it, an explosion that doesn’t go off is - a dud.
The best part of the entire presentation was the discussion afterward. It was slow taking off but got into some interesting points as people began pointing out parts they liked and/or didn’t care for.
