Short Review: The only miracle here is if you make it all the way though without yawning.


Spike Lee is a moderate talent who is given to moments of inspiration wedged into films swamped with misplaced righteousness and flagrant racism. He is no where as good as people want him to be. He's made one notable film, Do the Right Thing. The rest of his resume is little more than a list of disappointing could-have-beens. This isn't to say he's not important. Despite his blunt style and continual mishandling of simple narratives, for better or worse, and I think worse, he is the default voice of black American cinema.

One of Lee's biggest problems is that he seems overly concerned with making sure he makes a statement. He never just lets his stories do their work, his heavy hand is always visable, forcing the issues. He's the kind of guy who would do a remake of the Care Bears Movie and turn it into an allegory on how white make neo-cons are twarting black male happiness and freedom. He makes Oliver Stone seem nonjudgmental.

To be fair, Lee has a sharp eye for racist stereotyping in film, such as his view on the "Magic Negro" character. This is a lowly black who has some special wisdom or magical ability which is employed by the white hero. Examples of this character are plentiful such as the Oracle in The Matrix, Tia Dalma in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest or the Blind Seer in O Brother Where Art Thou? Its racist because the otherworldly is personified in a lowly black character which suggests that blacks themselves are outside of the normal world. It also places them in a subservient position to the white hero who uses them and then discards the relationship when convenient. You can see this character be used with Asian stereotypes as well. The problem with Lee is that he reverts to racist characterizations himself. Watch one of his films and you'll spot the Seething Cracker before too long. The Seething Cracker is the dim witted white man who throws out racist bile even when its against his own good to do so. He will spit out words like "boy" and "nigger" without thinking and treat his black co-horts like he's commanding over unruly dogs. The black characters then retaliate either by usurping the evil whitey in secret (one character spits in another man's water bottle in this film) or by threatening him into submission. This whole presentation is a strange tradition in many films from African-American directors. It is as if black characters aren't allowed to be considered fully heroic until after they put some white guy in his place. Black heroes often aren't allowed to be heroic on their own, they have to be heroic in the framework of white racism. Lee may cry foul over racist depictions in film but retaliating by intentionally populating your own works with equally racist caricature is just as bad.

I suppose I should talk about the film.

The movie follows the black "Buffalo Soldiers" in Italy during World War II. The group of soldiers survives a devastating German assault. They hide out in a small village where they meet up with a group of partisans. As the Germans close in, the soldiers befriend a small boy and a local woman. Infighting ensues over the woman and the aforementioned Seething Cracker officer back at HQ who demands the soldiers capture a German for questioning.

The story isn't well told, it takes too long to set up and by the time all of the tumblers are in place it becomes apparent the stakes aren't high enough. The film builds to support a high climax but there's nothing there in the end. Its a letdown, and more importantly, a bore. I'll say it again, Spike Lee is a moderate talent. He lacks a gift for visual style and relies too heavily on social commentary (in particular since his commentary shows he's little more than a black Archie Bunker.) If you're looking for a quality war film you will need to look elsewhere. This is a distracted work that never develops into what should be a fascinating film. Honestly, the most interesting thing about this movie is that Lee is actually succeeds at making World War II boring. Amazing.



Related Reviews:
World War II movies
Saving Private Ryan (1998)
Sands of Iwo Jima (1949)


Other Critic's Reviews:
Combustible Celluloid
Black Sheep Reviews

Labels: film, Laz Alonso, Michael Ealy, movie review, Spike Lee