Miracle at. St. Anna: Editing would have been its Savior

Lets get straight to the point, Miracle at St. Anna is a disappointment in every sense of the word. Spike Lee whos usually brilliant creates a film thats constantly trying to find its identity and ends up not knowing what type of film it really is. Now its not horrible, but its also not great and thats a big problem when your dealing with some powerful subject matter that had so much potential.

The problems lie with the disjointed nature of the narrative itself, it never seems focused and it jumps around constantly. Your left wondering why certain characters made the decisions they made, without getting a clear answer or without anything ever being explained. More then a few characters don't feel believable and others fall into racial sterotypes. Now this all could have been slightly more bearable had the movie not been 160 minutes long, not to mention theres a major "supernatural" element that seems borderline ridiculous.

Not everything is negative though, There are times when Lee creates a scene thats so moving, you can't help but think what this film could have been like had he not given into all his excesses. There are specific moments with the soldiers dealing with the racial tensions back at home to combat scenes where he shows that the aftermath of battle makes for just as powerful an image as the battle itself. Those are the times where he truly feels at home in the Directors chair and they make you wish that there was less pointless dialogue throughout because it impacts the emotional power of those scenes.

When it comes down to it Miracle at St. Anna is a film of wasted potential.
It was meant to be 2 hours but ended up in a 3 hour shell.
I can't say its a bad film because its not, but you truly feel robbed of something that had greatness within its grasp.

Grade: C-