Tuesday,
September 30, 2008
WWII Italian Partisans "Ambush"
Spike Lee and "Massacre at Santa Anna"
Spike
Lee is worse than the worst politician. How? Lee complains about what
he perceives as distortions or dilutions of Black contribution to WWII in
films, when in fact there was very little,and
that is trumpeted incessantly far and wide. Lee then chastises others for not
engaging in his same exaggerations, and then proceeds to take insulting and
derogatory literary license in "Massacre at Santa Anna (aka
"Miracle at Santa Anna)
Spike
Lee seems to be so myopic that he doesn't realize that almost as many innocent
Italian civilians were massacred by Nazis at SantAnna di Stazzema in ONE DAY than the number of
Black Soldiers that died during the ENTIRE WWII. (560 Italians vs 773 US Black
Soldiers).
Further,
the there were FOUR HUNDRED Massacres in Italy that Totaled more than 15,000
Italian victims !!!!!!!!!
In
WWII, 450,000 US White soldiers died, while only 773
US Black soldiers died, out of 500,000 in the service in overwhelmingly NON
COMBAT Service units, ie drivers, loaders, clerks,
etc.
Spike Lee Clashes With Partisans
Director refuses
to apologise. ANPI veterans to organise
flyers protesting at film
ROME According to the partisans, Spike Lee didnt Do the Right Thing. His statements outrage
us. He has made a film that does not depict the exact truth of what happened at
SantAnna di Stazzema. Yesterday evening, Giovanni Cipollini, vice president of the Pietrasanta
branch of the partisan veterans association, ANPI, replied to the American
director who had just said that partisans often ran away after attacks, leaving
unarmed civilians to face reprisals from German troops on their own. He added:
As a director, I am not apologising for
anything. The director of Do the Right Thing hoped that this would end
controversy over his film, Miracle at St. Anna, which 01 will release in 250
cinemas on Friday.
Tomorrow, ANPI
will distribute flyers at the films premiere in Viareggio protesting at the travesty of
history and insult to the Resistance. Representatives were unable to meet
the author. ANPI had already accused the director of misrepresenting history
by suggesting that the SS massacre of civilians at Stazzema
was triggered by a partisans treachery. Actually, there are two
massacres in the film, both provoked by partisans for different reasons. The
traitor played by Sergio Albelli (I never
thought I was playing a baddy) fails to give warning of the arrival of a
German column and the hero, Pierfrancesco Favino fails to own up to the ambush, causing the massacre
in the church on the ten-to-one principle: ten unarmed civilians
for every soldier killed.
If the film
starts discussion about Italys
past, its a good thing, points out the director. There are
various interpretations of what happened but the fact is that on 12 August
1944, 560 Italian civilians, men, women, old and young, were massacred by the
SS 16th division. James McBride is the films screenwriter and author
of the novel of the same name (published by Rizzoli in Italy): I
am very sorry if I have offended the partisans. But this is a fictional story
that was born the day I entered the village
of SantAnna di Stazzema. No one was talking about
the massacre any more. It took a film and a novel, which is not a history book.
I talk about the war through an incident that sets fathers and brothers at each
others throats, and destroys friendships. Its a story we blacks feel
even more closely. We were part of the war and we have a right to write about
it. Its better to be talking about these things than the
latest episode of Big Brother. Today, everyones a
partisan. But back then, only a few were. Spike Lee goes on:
The partisans werent
loved by all Italians. After ambushes, they fled and hid in the mountains,
leaving civilians to face the Germans reaction. I didnt
make anything up. It was Kesselring who invented the ten-to-one ratio.
At the start of
the film is an old clip of John Wayne, emblematic of the legend of the white
soldier, marking out the difference with other films. Other Italians in the
film are Omero Antonutti in
the role of a Fascist and Valentina Cervi, who plays his daughter. Spike Lees anger is
both his strength and his limitation. He responds to criticism in the United
States, especially from Variety, that his film is a 144-minute long polemic in
which the black soldiers are all good brothers treated like slaves by a country
that doesnt want them. Ive been doing this job for 23 years. Im
an artist who takes risks. I dont slit my wrists or jump off the
Empire State Building every time I get a poor review.
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