I could hear it now. "What? This isn't worse than 'She Hate Me.'" Um, yes it is. The reason why is simple. He wasn't trying as hard with "She Hate Me." In this film, he tried and tried, but in the end, it all went nowhere.
Mr. Lee quarrels with Eastwood about not including black soldiers in both of his World War II (WWII) themed films. "Miracle at St. Anna" was suppose to be his answer to such issues. What baffles me is why would you work so hard in making the black soldiers look so ridiculous in your zeal at showing blacks were there too? From Spike's absurd vision, black soldiers couldn't follow orders, they were always fighting amongst each other and unfocused, lusted after the Caucasian European locals. Whatever happened to the brotherhood of soldiers, watching each other backs and working at preventing your brother from ending up dead? They were buffoons, jealous and fighting like little children. I'm surprised they made it this far without getting killed. If that's how black soldiers behaved in WWII, it would be almost better not to show them, save us from embarrassment.
The most important quality a film can have for me are characters I can empathize with. Not sympathize, empathize. Despite their flaws, do I care or can I connect to them, at least one? One of the major differences between this war film and say, "Saving private Ryan," besides the battle scenes, has to be character connection. I couldn't care less about any of them in MASA. In fact, I didn't like any of them. I found myself wishing for the Germans to come and kill them all, smash cut to the closing of the post office shooting case then end credits immediately after. I was basically wanting the Germans to end the film as soon as possible, saving me from the excruciating pain of watching this steaming pile any further.
In the hands of a more talented director, this film would have humanized the Germans and the Italians just a little more. Just a tad. Unfortunately, Spike thought it would be worth our while seeing these retarded caricatures running around on the screen. The Germans were over-the-top mean, just like the white chief officers in the U.S. Army commanding the Buffalo Soldiers. And they all seem to be vying for the "Stupidest person ever award." Italian villagers who would rather run outside in the midst of gunfire instead of stay in their homes, hide in a closet and STFU. Black soldiers returning armed and dangerous to the diner where they were asked to leave by stereotypical white racist diner owner, basically holding him up for their ice scoops. I mean, come on Spike Lee. And you wonder why Tyler Perry is knocking you out the box? This film is worse than anything TP has ever puked out.
I didn't like the many story lines. It took the film in directions it didn't need to go. I see how they all were relevant to the mystery of the stone head and the post office shooting or whatever, but it didn't matter because the story was nonexistent. Story starts with a through-line for me and this film didn't have one. It was easy to follow. However, if he could have cut a few story lines out, maybe cramming them down to montages or something, and shave a few of them down, it would've been shorter, much more tolerable film.
The performances were stiff and flat. However, I wouldn't completely blame the actors for this. They were working with one dimensional characters. In fact, from what I heard, the main actors weren't inspired by the material.
I also had a major problem with the dialogue. If the characters weren't saying anything absurd and ignorant, most of the time running their mouths about nothing, then they were preaching. In fact, I would dare to say this is Spike Lee's preachiest film ever.
Also, Spike Lee lost his sense of humor and it's evident in his work these days. All attempts to be funny failed miserably. I was so annoyed. Lighten up.
As for the technical aspects, well, I should start with the editing. The film should have been cut down. The battle scenes looked like they were shot by some amateur, film school student. Wasn't it Ebert that likened the battle scenes to that of "Saving Private Ryan"? Ebert is losing it. He has that neck brace thingy he wears too tight around his neck. It's cutting off circulation to his brain. I mean, I saw the amputee's arm blow off before the grenade hit and explode. WTF? It was all so laughable. The cinematography was terrible. The music was horrid. And I don't know about you, but I am sick and tired of Spike Lee's tight shots on inanimate objects and symbols, cutting them right in during the scene, like the tight shots on the German medals. He does this all too often. It's corny. Ugh.
The biggest problem with the film was the believability aspect of it all. I wasn't buying anything. I didn't believe the black soldiers were soldiers. I didn't believe it was 1940 something, war torn Italy. I didn't believe the drama. I never once believed they were shooting or bombing anything, something I never felt before watching any war film. Maybe because previous war films never had constant bombs going off around the main characters for no reason. Unnecessary. I couldn't believe the characters were so stupid. I didn't believe the Italian woman would be remotely interested in Ealy when she seemed more engaged with Derek Luke's character.
And I'm sorry. What you may call a miracle, I call a contrivance, just another contribution to the overall lack of believability of this crappy film.
Mr. Lee quarrels with Eastwood about not including black soldiers in both of his World War II (WWII) themed films. "Miracle at St. Anna" was suppose to be his answer to such issues. What baffles me is why would you work so hard in making the black soldiers look so ridiculous in your zeal at showing blacks were there too? From Spike's absurd vision, black soldiers couldn't follow orders, they were always fighting amongst each other and unfocused, lusted after the Caucasian European locals. Whatever happened to the brotherhood of soldiers, watching each other backs and working at preventing your brother from ending up dead? They were buffoons, jealous and fighting like little children. I'm surprised they made it this far without getting killed. If that's how black soldiers behaved in WWII, it would be almost better not to show them, save us from embarrassment.
The most important quality a film can have for me are characters I can empathize with. Not sympathize, empathize. Despite their flaws, do I care or can I connect to them, at least one? One of the major differences between this war film and say, "Saving private Ryan," besides the battle scenes, has to be character connection. I couldn't care less about any of them in MASA. In fact, I didn't like any of them. I found myself wishing for the Germans to come and kill them all, smash cut to the closing of the post office shooting case then end credits immediately after. I was basically wanting the Germans to end the film as soon as possible, saving me from the excruciating pain of watching this steaming pile any further.
In the hands of a more talented director, this film would have humanized the Germans and the Italians just a little more. Just a tad. Unfortunately, Spike thought it would be worth our while seeing these retarded caricatures running around on the screen. The Germans were over-the-top mean, just like the white chief officers in the U.S. Army commanding the Buffalo Soldiers. And they all seem to be vying for the "Stupidest person ever award." Italian villagers who would rather run outside in the midst of gunfire instead of stay in their homes, hide in a closet and STFU. Black soldiers returning armed and dangerous to the diner where they were asked to leave by stereotypical white racist diner owner, basically holding him up for their ice scoops. I mean, come on Spike Lee. And you wonder why Tyler Perry is knocking you out the box? This film is worse than anything TP has ever puked out.
I didn't like the many story lines. It took the film in directions it didn't need to go. I see how they all were relevant to the mystery of the stone head and the post office shooting or whatever, but it didn't matter because the story was nonexistent. Story starts with a through-line for me and this film didn't have one. It was easy to follow. However, if he could have cut a few story lines out, maybe cramming them down to montages or something, and shave a few of them down, it would've been shorter, much more tolerable film.
The performances were stiff and flat. However, I wouldn't completely blame the actors for this. They were working with one dimensional characters. In fact, from what I heard, the main actors weren't inspired by the material.
I also had a major problem with the dialogue. If the characters weren't saying anything absurd and ignorant, most of the time running their mouths about nothing, then they were preaching. In fact, I would dare to say this is Spike Lee's preachiest film ever.
Also, Spike Lee lost his sense of humor and it's evident in his work these days. All attempts to be funny failed miserably. I was so annoyed. Lighten up.
As for the technical aspects, well, I should start with the editing. The film should have been cut down. The battle scenes looked like they were shot by some amateur, film school student. Wasn't it Ebert that likened the battle scenes to that of "Saving Private Ryan"? Ebert is losing it. He has that neck brace thingy he wears too tight around his neck. It's cutting off circulation to his brain. I mean, I saw the amputee's arm blow off before the grenade hit and explode. WTF? It was all so laughable. The cinematography was terrible. The music was horrid. And I don't know about you, but I am sick and tired of Spike Lee's tight shots on inanimate objects and symbols, cutting them right in during the scene, like the tight shots on the German medals. He does this all too often. It's corny. Ugh.
The biggest problem with the film was the believability aspect of it all. I wasn't buying anything. I didn't believe the black soldiers were soldiers. I didn't believe it was 1940 something, war torn Italy. I didn't believe the drama. I never once believed they were shooting or bombing anything, something I never felt before watching any war film. Maybe because previous war films never had constant bombs going off around the main characters for no reason. Unnecessary. I couldn't believe the characters were so stupid. I didn't believe the Italian woman would be remotely interested in Ealy when she seemed more engaged with Derek Luke's character.
And I'm sorry. What you may call a miracle, I call a contrivance, just another contribution to the overall lack of believability of this crappy film.