DVD
REVIEW: MIRACLE AT ST ANNA

02/08/09

The opening scenes of
Miracle at St. Anna set up the movie as a mystery involving
a New York City postal clerk, working the stamp counter, who
recognizes his next customer and suddenly pulls out a German
Lugar and kills him. Detectives later find in his house, the
head of a statue from Florence worth about $5 million on the
black market. From the start, the movie sets up some
intriguing questions like how did a postal clerk get his
hands on a Florence relic, why did he kill the man, and why
did he use a German Luger? Too bad the movie doesn’t
deliver, and leaves the viewer very disappointed.
The movie is mostly set in Italy during the second World War
and focuses on Hector (Lax Alonso), Bishop (Michael Ealy),
Stamps (Derek Luke), and Train (Omar Benson Miller) four
black solders in a white men war. When we first meet Train
he is already carrying the head, he believes it will bring
him luck. Train saves the life of boy named Angelo (Matteo
Sciabordi) who he grows attached too. The four take the boy
to an Italy family and end up surrounded by Germans.
The movie brushes the topic of blacks fighting a war for a
country that treats them like second class citizens a couple
of times and is explicitly seen in a very well done scene
were the four enter an ice cream parlor in Louisiana.
The movie as a whole is not bad, but I was expecting a
better ending to match the amazing beginning. The ending is
probably the worst thing about the movie. It’s very
contrived and looks like something out of a soap opera. The
movie does have some good action scenes, but nothing as good
as the action in Saving Private Ryan. The most intensity
scene takes place at a church where the Nazis murder an
entire community and burn the rest when they run out of
bullets.
Review By Brad Peterson
brad@smartcine.com
The DVD is presented in
2.35:1 aspect ration preserving the theatrical
presentation of the film. The picture is complemented
with a 5.1 Dolby Digital audio in English Spanish and
French. The special features don't exists in this DVD
release. If you want to see some special features you
should go for the
Blu-ray version.
VIDEO:
Anamorphic Widescreen (2.35:1 aspect ratio)
AUDIO:
English 5.1 Dolby Digital English, French and Spanish
5.1 Dolby Digital
Subtitles: English SDH French & Spanish
RATING BREAK DOWN:
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