Mini-Review: Miracle at St. Anna

Miracle at St. Anna
Directed by Spike Lee
Released September 26, 2008

Spike Lee has had two terrific hits in his career, in my opinion, “Do the Right Thing” in 1989 and “25th Hour” in 2002. Otherwise, nothing is too great. Some of it (like “Bamboozled”) is excruciating and others overlong and overpraised (“Malcolm X”), as well as inexplicably overrated (“Inside Man”). Here Lee is at it again, creating another movie where editing for some reason seems an unnecessary concept, and lengthy scenes of uninteresting dialogue win out over actual plot development. The biggest thing wrong with “Miracle at St. Anna” is the so-called miracle. The story just isn’t terribly intriguing, and I’m not sure why Lee thought it might make for a good film. It doesn’t help that not one member of the cast stands out, and an abundantly joyous score feels very much out of sync with the rest of the film and its agonizingly slow pace.

D+