a5c7b9f00b In New York, the elder employee of the post-office, Hector Negron, goes on a rampage killing a client by shooting him with a Luger. The rookie reporter of the Daily News, Tim Boyle, follows the detectives that are investigating the case. They find the valuable head of the statue Primavera in his wardrobe. Tim decides to interview the catatonic Hector. Out of the blue, he starts talking about the 92nd Division "Buffalo Soldiers" in Tuscan, Italy, in World War II. Hector and three other soldiers - 2nd Staff Sergeant Aubrey Stamps, Sergeant Bishop Cummings and the slow Private First Class Sam Train - cross a river. However his company is destroyed by the German soldiers. While trapped in a village, Train rescues the eight year-old boy, Angelo Torancelli, who survived a massacre in St. Anna village, and they become connected to each other. As times go on, the platoon interacts with the villagers and Hector discloses a story of prejudice and betrayal in times of war. Christmas, 1983. A New York postal clerk, a Buffalo Soldier in Italy in World War II, shoots a stranger. In his apartment, police find a valuable Italian marble head, missing since the war. Flashbacks tell the story of four Black soldiers who cross Tuscany's Serchio River, dodging German and friendly fire. With a shell-shocked boy in tow, they reach the village of Colognora. Orders via radio tell them to capture a German soldier for questioning about a counteroffensive. In the village, a beautiful woman, partisans that include a traitor and a local legend, the boy, and the story of a recent massacre connect to the postal worker's anguish forty years later. And the miracle? I am glad that I read Roger Ebert's comments (positive) before viewing the comments herein. It seems that people dislike the movie for a variety of reasons (including dislike of the director). I found the movie to be compelling, complex and riveting. The ways in which faith, friendship and war were presented were unique and thought-provoking. I like to think of myself as a discerning viewer, and this movie is one of my favorites of the year. The acting was strong (except perhaps Hector at the very end), the many subplots and characters were well-integrated and not difficult to follow. I enjoyed seeing dimensions to the characters on all sides: the Nazi poetry-lover and child advocate; the Partisan traitor and martyr and of course the four soldiers. Mr. Lee did an outstanding job of pulling all of these characters together seamlessly around the flight and fancy of a little Italian boy. Well done! Let me begin by saying that this movie was okay. But it could have been way better.<br/><br/>The story itself is great and kept me interested until the end, but it's execution could have been much better. Throughout the movie, some of the acting ranged from good to bad to downright lame. Jon Turturro's cameo as a detective was extremely disappointing, for instance. The acting picks up when the flashback begins, but every so often it rockets down.<br/><br/>The battle scenes were, for lack of a better word, comical. They were over the top and stereotypical of any other war movie, complete with bodies being flung from explosions in an exaggerated fashion and people sobbing over amputated rubber limbs.<br/><br/>The characters were all over the place on the sympathy scale. Stamps and Trey (or is it Train?) elicit plenty of sympathy, whereas Bishop and whatever the girl's name was only brought out anger from me.<br/><br/>The worst part of the movie is the editing, though. Some of the battle scenes are choppy, and there are entire cuts to different scenes for split seconds that we could have done without (they serve no purpose whatsoever).<br/><br/>My biggest problem was the stereotypical racism of the white characters in the movie. The only American white people in the movie are shown as black-hating jerks who's ignorance leads them to destruction.<br/><br/>Overall, the movie was good. Not amazing, not great, definitely not a masterpiece, but it wasn't terrible or bad or crappy. It was a great story, but it could have been executed much better.<br/><br/>6.5 Stars. This is a sloppy stew in which the ingredients of battle action, murder mystery, little-kid sentiment and history lesson don't mix well. Miracle at St. Anna is also a 2003 novel written by American writer and musician James McBride. Those who have both read the book and the script say that several themes in the book have been enhanced for the movie. The supernatural aspect has been muted somewhat, but the religious Christian aspect has been made more pointed for characters on all sides—Bufflo Soldiers, Italians and Germans. Other details were also changed. For example, Hector didn't earn a purple heart but a silver star. Rudolfo recognizes the fact that he's going to get shot and doesn't seem to have come to terms with it. (In the book, he doesn't realize until the last second what's happening and is a little more OK with his fate.) Hector barely ever looks at who comes up to the window. In the book, he looks, notices a flashy ring, and then looks to see whose face it is. (This is important to the story because it is this small detail that makes the viewer/reader realize that the Black Butterfly has exacted his revenge from beyond the grave.) The movie's script seems to draw out a sex scene that was only referenced in the book.