Tuesday, October 21, 2008

Vatican Pans Spike Lee's Film as No Miracle

The ANNOTICO Report

 

The Vatican criticizes "Miracle at St Anna" as a failing "miraculous fable".

 

Lee complains about what he perceives as distortions or dilutions of Black contribution to WWII in films, 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 Sant’Anna 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 tries to "revise" History with a FICTIONAL tale of FOUR (4) Black GIs, while making all the Villagers as Negative Stereotypes of Italians, with some  being turned into Traitors where None Existed in this Incident, AND Makes the Massacre of 560 Italian Civilians as a mere "backdrop", and somewhat incidental.

 

A Pox on Spike Lee for this and his other Anti Italian American Movies "Do the Right Thing", "Jungle Fever", and "Summer of Sam".

 

Spike Lee's Film is No Miracle says Vatican Newspaper

 

Top News

Nina Sahu on

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Vatican City  - The Vatican's newspaper has panned Spike Lee's Miracle at St Anna as "confused," saying that the film's story of black US soldiers in Italy during World War II, "slides into sentimentalism and superficiality."

The daily Osservatore Romano, in its edition published Monday, says US director Lee, maker of "noteworthy films like 25th Hour" in 2002 "fails to convince" in his latest effort.

But the article written by Gaetano Vallini, described as "excessive" accusations made by many among Italy's political left, that Lee had re-written history in a "revisionist" manner.

Miracle at St Anna has stirred controversy with Italian anti- Fascist resistance veterans angry at Lee for his portrayal of a fictional resistance fighter-turned Nazi collaborator.

The character, Rodolfo, is shown through his treachery as having had a hand in the real-life 1944 Nazi massacre of some 560 civilians in the Tuscan town of Sant'Anna di Stazzema.

Lee and the film's script-writer James McBride could have made the distinction between fiction and reality more clear, but the films main faults lie elsewhere Vallini contends.

The Italian characters, consisting of partisan and villagers are often "reduced to stereotypes," while the portrayal of the black US soldiers is "more convincing" the article noted.

But ultimately Lee's attempt to denounce the racism in the US military by attempting to tell a "miraculous fable" fails, according to the Osservatore Romano article. (dpa)

 

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