Lee's St Anna Meets Resistance

The fact that Spike Lee’s Miracle at St Anna depicted the Nazi massacre of 560 Italian civilians in the Tuscan town of Sant'Anna di Stazzema in 1994 as an indirect result of an Italian partisan resistance fighter’s collaboration with the Nazis created a storm following the film’s press screening in Rome on 29^th September 2008.

 The press, and partisan veteran organisations  who feared a ‘revisionist’ backlash, condemned the film as a misrepresentation of the facts.  

 The film’s writer, James McBride, was apologetic.   ‘This is a fictional story,’ he said, ‘The real question for me was how to make 'St. Anna' a reveal, because that is the craft of fiction.   I am very sorry if I have offended the partisans. I have enormous respect for them. As a black American, we understand what it's like for someone to tell your history, and they are not you.   But unfortunately, the history of World War II here in Italy is ours as well, and this was the best I could do

 Director Lee, however, was determinedly unapologetic: ‘I am not apologizing for anything. I think these questions are evidence that there is still a lot about your history during the war that you (Italians) have got to come to grips with.   This film is no clear picture of what happened. It is our interpretation, and I stand behind it.’

 The day after the premiere, the partisan veterans’ association Anpi accused Lee of producing a ‘travesty of history’ and announced that it planned to issue leaflets at the premiere of the film on 3^rd October.

 On the 1^st October, Time magazine’s website claimed that Lee and McBride had ignored a ruling by an Italian military tribunal in 2005 that there was no evidence that the massacre was sparked by the betrayal of members of the resistance.   Moreno Costa, a partisan who fought alongside the Buffalo Soldiers, a unit comprised entirely of African-Americans, said in an interview on the site that when he had met with Lee to discuss the troops the director had made no mention about the alleged betrayal.  Giovanni Cipollini, the head of a pro-resistance organisation, also claimed that Lee had turn down an offer he made to bring the director together with partisans who were present at the time.   Cipollini said, ‘When a famous director makes a major movie about a chapter in history, people will believe that his version is the truth.’

 Lee responded the following day through the pages of the Rome daily La Repubblica, saying, ‘The visceral reactions in recent days make me think that the deep wounds that opened in Italy during the Second World War have not healed. ... I am not the enemy of the partisans.’ [ADD]

Further Reading:

2008

Italy: 2008