I probably should have waited longer to review Miracle at St. Anna properly because I feel like I’m still digesting it, it wasn’t at all what I was expecting. From the previews, it looks like a caper film with a military backstory. I think I was expecting something like “The Inside Man”, but instead it ended up being a really shockingly brutal but interesting take on buffalo soldiers and their role in WW2 Italy.

The movie’s got a really broad range of emotional notes, light happy moments and dark visceral massacres, all juxtaposed and edited in quick succession so just when you think you’re getting a break, there’s another genocide coming to even things out. Most of the time it was too dark and intense for me – I shut it off midway through the first evening watching it, figuring I probably didn’t need to see any more bodies before bedtime.

Not sure what to make of the film. I found it frustrating to watch and there were a lot of slow parts, the characters were ironically kindof stereotypical (If I see another childlike lumbering black giant in a film this year I’m walking out), a plot point turns out to be a pointless Macguffin, half the time I have no idea what’s going on, and the pacing was off. But I’m glad I saw it anyhow?