Hasn't Spike Lee been one of the most interesting filmmakers to watch grow and branch out over time? He's always been a natural at making movies, but sometimes his style has overwhelmed his substance. And yes, I am one of the few people on earth who admits to not loving Malcolm X (I think it's good. I just don't see "the masterpiece" everyone else sees). A lot of people will point to 25th Hour as the change in direction for Spike's career but that's nonsense. He's grown with almost every film and made the largest leap with the making of his first real epic (the aforementioned Malcolm X).

Spike made me really sit up in my seat when he brought Richard Price's Clockers to the big screen. On paper it's a movie you could see Martin Scorsese making (and indeed he was going to, though he ended up just producing). When Spike took the film over, he changed the point of view from Harvey Keitel's cop to Mekhi Phifer's drug dealer, Strike. It turned out to be one of his best flicks.

But I think a lot of people point to 25th Hour because it's one of his best films (along with Do the Right Thing, which is my favorite film that he's made). Inside Man, a focused, tightly constructed heist film came later (we'll just go ahead and skip She Hate Me). Of course, he did the long but good When the Levees Broke for HBO. And now comes Miracle at St. Anna in what appears to be another progression ... Spike Lee is putting his stamp on the World War II epic.

The trailer sold me despite telling me very little. I'm a big movie buff so I usually go to see a movie with talent that interests me as long as I don't hear that it's terrible. I know people complain when a trailer doesn't tell them what the movie is about but I'm on the other end of that stick. The less I know the better. I want to discover the movie the filmmakers are making in the theater. The talent or the idea or the images have already got me interested. Most people aren't like me in this regard and that's fine. The average moviegoer isn't a hardcore movie buff and doesn't have time to waste on seeing every single movie with actors or directors they like. They can only afford the time for the stories they're interested in. There's nothing wrong with that. But I digress...

I got the gist of the story from the trailer but a little trip to the magical world of IMDb.com provides an even clearer picture:

Miracle at St. Anna chronicles the story of four black American soldiers who are members of the US Army as part of the all-black 92nd Buffalo Soldier Division stationed in Tuscany, Italy during World War II. They experience the tragedy and triumph of the war as they find themselves trapped behind enemy lines and separated from their unit after one of them risks his life to save an Italian boy.

After reading that synopsis, I realized the film's one-sheet does a better job of telling the movie's story than the trailer does. The trailer also doesn't display some of the other talent that appears in the film: John Turturro, John Leguizamo and James Gandolfini are in this baby, albeit in small roles. Hell, even D.B. Sweeney lives! Further research shows Wesley Snipes was originally cast in the Derek Luke role before Blade got busted by the Feds. The vampires should have figured this one out years ago. Come on, guys, that's how they got Capone!

I'm interested to see Spike's take on the war genre. It puts him in yet more unfamiliar territory and nothing could be more refreshing for a filmmaker like Spike. It seems the more unfamiliar the terrain, the more interesting a film he makes. Let's hope my theory continues to test true. Maybe there's a Nobel prize for me somewhere in this.

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