Director Spike Lee has said of this film: "It's a World War II film — a brutal mystery that deals with historic events and the stark reality of war. But it's also a lyrical, mystical story of compassion and love." Not a bad summary of the story which begins in 1983 with the cold-blooded murder of a man by an elderly New York Post Office worker and ends with a strange encounter on a beach in the Bahamas that turns out to be stunning moment of grace for a man without hope. The screenplay by James McBride is based on his bestselling 2003 novel which was created out of his uncle's World War II memories and years of research on the all-black 92nd Division Buffalo Soldiers who served in Europe from August 1944 to November 1945. Miracle at St. Anna is also, in part, a tribute to them and their courage under pressure and in the face of racial prejudice.

Lee continues the drama with a flashback to 1944 when the Buffalo Soldiers are trying to cross a river in Italy and move into German territory. In the background, Axis Sally, the German equivalent of Tokyo Rose, admonishes the black soldiers to abandon the American cause for racial equality under the Nazis. In a fierce battle, many of these soldiers are killed, some by friendly fire. Four of them survive and find themselves in Tuscany behind the enemy's lines. They are Aubrey Stamps (Derek Luke), the ranking officer and a leader of reasonableness and dignity; Bishop Cummings (Michael Ealy), a selfish street survivor and womanizer; Hector Negron (Laz Alonso), a Puerto Rican radio man and interpreter; and Sam Train (Omar Benson Miller), a man-child who is deeply religious and the most compassionate member of this group. He finds and takes under his wings an injured eight-year old Italian boy (Matteo Sciabondi), who nicknames his new friend "The Chocolate Giant."

In a small Italian town, the Buffalo Soldiers try to establish contact with the other American forces. They are assisted by an alluring woman named Renata (Valentina Cervi), her father who's a Fascist, a famous Partisan leader nicknamed the Butterfly, and a group of very frightened citizens who don't want to get caught up in the crossfire between the Americans and the German army, which is heading their way.

There are far too many characters and subplots in Miracle at St. Anna. In trying to convey the complexity of the events in both 1944 and in the 1984 murder, director Lee loses his way several times and leaves us in doubt as to what is really happening before our eyes. But we are willing to travel with him to the film's finale for several miraculous events which demonstrate that even in the midst of war and egregious massacres, compassionate acts can lift the spirit. Sam Train is a hero who is willing to do anything and everything to save the life of the first white boy he has ever been close to. Another unlikely hero grants an enemy his life in a moment of certain death. These incidents are moments of grace that make Miracle at St. Anna worth seeing.