Saturday, November 10, 2007

Spike Lee Distorts Italian Partisans in "Miracle at St. Anna."

The ANNOTICO Report

 

Spike Lee is in Tuscany filming "Miracle at St. Anna " a $45 million film, based on the best-seller by black author James McBride that is based on what Italians refer to as the German S.S. "Massacre at Sant'Anna di Stazzema".

 

Interesting, How one people's "Massacre" can be anothers "Miracle"  !!! ???

 

The film follows four African-American Buffalo soldiers of the 92nd Infantry Division who get trapped in a a small Tuscan village on the  Gothic Line during the Italian Campaign of World War II. The film deals with the massacre of Sant'Anna di Stazzema perpetrated by the Nazis in retaliation to Italian partisan activity.

 

But, a group of former Italian Partisan soldiers are taking aim at Spike Lee for the way their former cause is being depicted in Lee's film.

They claim "It is a false cinematic reconstruction of events that ignores the real story and will leave an inaccurate impression, The term 'cinematic license' should not mean that the truth can be ignored."

 

Spike Lee, who has never been a friend of the Italian American, with three movies depicting them in a Negative manner, Do the Right Thing, 1989,( Unfairly makes the Italian Americans the SOLE Reason for racial tensions), Jungle Fever  1991, (Again Unfairly makes Italian Americans bigots re Interracial Dating),  Summer of Sam ,1999 (Unfairly makes the Italian American Victims of  "Son of Sam" -David Berkowitz into Bigots).

 

Keep in mind that the "Buffalo Soldiers" (originally named for Black Calvary units dating back to the 1970s and the Indian Wars, it became a generic term for all African American soldiers) were unique in that very few Black soldiers were permitted in combat units in WWII, most were in service-oriented units, "behind the line" duties (cooks) Meanwhile, There were an estimated 800,000 Italian Americans  Soldiers subject to combat duty!!!!!!!!

 

The only Buffalo Soldiers in the entire US Military were the 24th and 25th Infantry Regiments (Pacific), and the 92nd Infantry Division (the Italian Campaign)  The Tuskegee Airmen (992) also served in Europe.

In early 1945, after the Battle of the Bulge, American forces in Europe experienced a shortage of combat troops. General Eisenhower offered Negro soldiers in service units an opportunity to volunteer for duty with the infantry. Only 4,500 responded,

Oh yes, by the way, Lee will harp on why a "few" Black soldiers should fight for the US when "they" suffer discrimination, ignoring completely  that "discrimination" is keeping them mostly out of  the line of fire, and out of the cemetery.

Should someone remind him that while 800,000 Italian Americans were subject to combat in the US Military , that 600,000 of their Mothers, Fathers, Aunts, Uncles, Grandparents were "Treated' as Enemy Aliens, with Internment, Relocations, Confiscation, Curfews, etc !!!!

Now  also consider, Italian Partisan membership grew from some 20,000 in May of 1944 to 200,000 by April of 1945. The partisans engaged in Ambushes, Sabotage, and "AntiScorch" (Preventing Germans from blowing up Infrastructure as they retreated) By April 21, 1945, the partisans attacked in an organized sweep, and took control of all towns and cities not yet reached by the Allies. Over 35,000 Partisans died by the time Italy was liberated in the spring of 1945. One In Venice, partisans rounded up 140,293 prisoners for the Allies.

 

This does not even address the exploits of the retrained and re equipped Italian army consisting of 100,000 men that were fighting the Germans with the Allies, by May of 1944.               http://www.comandosupremo.com/19441945.html

 

Spike Lee needs a "wake up call" !!!!!!!!

Italians Protest Details in Lee's 'Miracle'

Hollywood Reporter                                                                                                                                                                                                                                          By Eric J. Lyman                                                                                                                                                                                                                                             Nov 7, 2007

 

ROME -- A group of former partisan soldiers are taking aim at Spike Lee for the way their former cause is being depicted in Lee's in-progress  film "Miracle at St. Anna."

The $45 million film, based on the best-seller by James McBride, is set in the Tuscan countryside during World War II.

The film will tell the story of a group of black soldiers caught between enemy lines who come upon a town of partisans -- Italians who fought against Mussolini's Fascists and their Nazi allies -- seeking to find a traitor in their midst. Filming started Oct. 15.

The film also will include a recounting of what Italians refer to as the "St. Anna Massacre," in which 560 civilians -- women, children and elderly men -- were slaughtered and then burned by German troops in retaliation for partisan activities.

The veterans accuse Lee of changing history to suit hi s story, and they have demanded that that part of the story be removed or changed.


"It is a false cinematic reconstruction of events that ignores the real story and will leave an inaccurate impression," partisan veterans Moreno Costa, Enio Mancini and Giovanni Cipollini said in a statement released Tuesday. "The term 'cinematic license' should not mean that the truth can be ignored."

The three veterans did not say how many other former soldiers they represented.

Messages left with Lee's temporary Tuscan offices were not returned.

 

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/hr/content_display/film/news/e3ie86cd64fe380364fc901fb98240f6490

 

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