posted
I went to see this movie earlier tonight with a friend of mine. I was expecting a pretty basic WWII movie, with maybe some sort of quasi mystical element because of the statue head, if not slightly different because it focuses on Buffalo soldiers rather than what you usually get. Boy was I ever in for a surprise.
It's a long movie, almost three hours long, but frankly it didn't feel like it. It was one of the few 2 hour plus movies that I've seen that flew by in an instant. The cast was huge. There were probably a half dozen different plots all going on at the same time. Every single one of them was wrapped up by the end of the movie, and it left me emotionally....used. I'm not sure how else to describe the feeling. I felt at the end of the movie that I had nothing left to give, and nothing more to feel.
I read some of the reviews when I got home and it's been called a lot of things. Ebert called it a "masterpiece," which I think you could easily call it. I have to wait for my head to get wrapped around it a bit before I really label it like that, but my first impressions are that it was well put together with fantastically compelling characters of all flavors with a rich plot that takes you in a dizzying number of directions before bringing you back home. But it seems by and large to have gotten negative reviews of "too long" and "disjointed." It DID seem a little disjointed as I watched it since it tugs at so many different threads, but as it goes on, they're all woven together. It's heart wrenching, heart breaking even. It made me angry, it made me sad, it made me proud, and hopeful. To call it an emotional roller coaster is an understatement. I'd seriously recommend it for anyone in the mood for an epic war movie that isn't just about the battle. If anything, the actual military objective of the movie is the least important plot. But I'd warn anyone before they saw it that it's bloody. And the Massacre at St. Anna that it's based on is in the movie. And it's a sickening scene that rivals any documentary footage I've seen of the Holocaust.
On a side note, the music in the trailer, if you clicked the link, is from a group called Two Steps from Hell, and the song in the trailer itself is called "1000 Ships of the Underworld." I did some reading into the group, and apparently they aren't a band of any kind, they're a company that specifically writes music for trailers, but they write full tracks, even if only tiny bits get used in the trailers themselves. I listened to a lot of their music and it's really, really good, but they don't sell CDs, they only license the music to trailer makers. Bummer.
As for the music in Miracle at St. Anna itself. It's also very, very good. I'm really thinking about getting the soundtrack. It was maybe a LITTLE over the top at some points. Whenever something German happens, like a large column of troops is shown or a new commanding office is introduced, the EVILness of the music was so dramatic that I actually laughed at one point. It was a nice break in the tension. If not for the utter brutality, I'd compare the over the topness of the music to what you'd hear in Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade whenever the Germans made a big move.
Again, very good movie. I'm surprised it didn't open in more theaters or get more money since it opened.
Edit to add: The only other two Spike Lee movies I've seen are Malcolm X and Inside Man. Malcolm X I think I saw once, and it was a long time ago. I don't even remember it anymore. Inside Man I thought was pretty good. Now I'm really interested in seeing more of his movies.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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posted
I hated it. I couldn't believe how much. I like Spike Lee's films. He's normally a pretty daring filmmaker; forget the fact that many of his films confront tough subjects, just the camera work and cinematic, uh, ness of his movies, is awesome. He's a flatout badass filmmaker who makes me think of Scorcese and Altman.
But oh man, how I hated this movie. pure cheese. pure, unadulterated cheese. I don't think there's a single moment of reality in this entire movie. The performances were horrible, the music was INSANE, the writing was completely on the nose. That freaking kid must have shouted 'chocolate giant' 653 times. I wanted to punt him into the arms of the Nazis.
I felt like I was in the theater for 8 hours.
Posts: 2267 | Registered: May 2005
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posted
lol, don't feel bad. It's interesting how totally different our views on the same movie are.
I was thrown out of the flow of the movie a few times by things you mentioned, like whenever the kid was talking to his imaginary friend Arturo. And the Chocolate Giant thing, as well as the character himself, were a little boring. But there were so many points in the movie to me that were utterly gripping that I was sucked back in. I could've done without a certain degree of the little kid's antics, but it's a minor quibbling on my part.
Posts: 21898 | Registered: Nov 2004
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