The subject of the latest Spike Lee film, “Miracle at St. Anna” revolves around the struggles black soldiers had to put up with in their segregated units during World War II. It’s based on a true event in which 560 Italian civilians were massacred by German soldiers.

In "Miracle at St. Anna," the action is mostly set in 1944, when four members of the U.S. infantry are trapped behind enemy lines in Tuscany: the upright 2nd Staff Sgt. Aubrey Stamps (Derek Luke); Sgt. Bishop Cummings (Michael Ealy); the childish Pfc. Sam Train (Omar Benson Miller); and Corp. Hector Negron (Laz Alonso), who we first see in the film's framing device 40 years hence as a postal worker who inexplicably shoots a man who comes to his window.

The men were part of a company charged with crossing to the German-occupied side of a local river, and survived the massacre that followed. The troops also pick up an injured Italian boy and head to the first town that comes their way.

"Buffalo Soldiers" was the nickname of the 92nd Infantry Division whose story is featured in this film.    

The major problem with this film is that it’s all about prototypes. Each man is a stand-in for a particular racial prototype; even the white characters. The action is too long and the soundtrack fails at saving the film as long as its keeping its viewers’ alive is concerned.

The young actors who play the soldiers said by telephone from Toronto, where the film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival, that they felt a