MovieChat Forums > Miracle at St. Anna (2008) Discussion > Better than Flags of Our Fathers.

Better than Flags of Our Fathers.

posted 14 years ago by Scarface8890
16 replies | jump to latest

I don't have anything against Clint Eastwood but I think this movie is better. Miracle at St. Anna was more consistent and the story flowed better. I remember the problem I had with Flags of Our Fathers was keeping track of where the soldiers were at and whether they were in Pacific or in the U.S. It jumped around too much.

Plus I thought it was nice seeing the Italian campaign have a movie. You don't see too many World War II movies about the Italian campaign. Plus it was nice seeing African-American soldiers get their recognition.

[–] 14 years ago

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[–] Scarface8890 14 years ago

I thought the movie was good. That's just my opinion. If there was any prejudice in it, it's because it was set in the 1940s. Plus anything goes in war.

[–] Duncan_Idaho02 14 years ago

No, it was not better, not even close. Not sure what movie you were watching, but is was not even close.

[–] LucaBrasi72 14 years ago

View other post that i had just written. Very well done movie, but this movie does not compare to Flags of our Fathers...not even close.

Me and Elwood gotta make a break for it!, You and the band keep playin!...

[–] schlob77 14 years ago

Sorry but I cold not disagree with you more. Weak story, mediocre acting, I put it more along the lines of Windtalkers.

I agree the 92nd division and African Americans contributions need to be represented more in WWII movies, this movie is just too weak.

[–] yatman56 14 years ago

Well, I guess it is all a matter of opinion, but I think "Flags of Our Fathers" was better. I have only seen that once and there is something about it that keeps me from seeing it again, and not because I think it was bad. But I do think "St. Anna" was better than "Private Ryan." It had a better story. But for that matter I don't see where Captain Miller saved Private Ryan, nor do I understand what St. Anna's miracle was.

[–] chas437 14 years ago

Miracle at Santa Anna better than Saving Pvt Ryan? For Christ sake, your ignorence is off the chart's. Saving Ryan is generally considered by critics and viewers as one of the top WW2 films if not one of the greatest films of American cinema. The battle scenes were impecable with particular detail to accuracy. It is a film to celebrate the sacrifice of a great nation to rid the world of tyranny. It inspired a generation of Americans. I remember 80 year-old veterans weeping in the theatres during this film. And you think Spike Lee's subversive piece of sh*t is a better film? You opinion boggles the mind.

[–] orbinatorrr 14 years ago

Could not disagree more. I am actually furious at Spike Lee for directing this juvenile and insipid crap. Is this the same man who made Malcolm X?? I didn't think Flags of Our Fathers was the greatest war movie or anything, but compared to Miracle, it's a masterpiece.

[–] 14 years ago

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[–] yatman56 13 years ago

All of you have your point and your opinions, but I still think in some ways "St. Anna" was better....a better story. "St. Anna" would have made a good story whether the soldiers were black or white. It probably would have been better if the soldiers had been white instead of black, and not getting bog down on the race issue, which actually turned into a distraction. No doubt about it "Ryan" was VERY realistic. That in itself is hard to beat. I would say that all future war movies will be judged against "Ryan" for their realism, but don't confuse good special effects with story. And once again, I still don't see how Captain Miller saved Private Ryan. If "Ryan" had a different title...........
After some consideration, I take back what I wrote above. "Ryan" was and is a better story, and Speilberg is a master story teller, no doubt about it, better than Lee. I probably intially gave "Ryan" a lower rating because the D-day story has been told so many times in film. In some ways it is a very worn out subject. I gave "St. Anna" a higher rating because I was impressed with it. It covered two subject matters that had not been given much attention in the past; black soldiers, and the Italian campaign.

[–] chas437 14 years ago

Sorry, but I don't think I could disagree more. I am A WW2 film junkie, and I think this one of the worst. The fact that it had a big budget makes it even more of a waste.

First off the depiction of combat in the Italian campaign is very limited to one sort of generic scene. Second, Lee's intention to depict the plight of the African American soldier in WW2 as victims of harsh racism is overshadowed by the actions of the the soldiers in the film . Instead of some heroic actions to deal with their predicament, the black soldiers just sort of hang out and try to screw the white chicks. This only reinforces the worst stereotypes and is frankly offensive. I think much more highly of African American soldiers in WW2 that Spike Lee does I guess. This was Lee's responce to Eastwood's "Flags of our Fathers"? PATHETIC

I didn't think there could be a worse WW2 flick that "Pearl Harbor" but Lee surprised me. Some bad WW2 movies like "The Big Red One" can be forgiven because of low budgets.

[–] !!!deleted!!! (5819949) 13 years ago

@ chas437 - You pretty much nailed it on the head! I still haven't figured out what the first scene of the movie has to do with the war, and I still don't know what the "Miracle" was. It was just poor story telling. All it seemed like to me was Spike wanted to throw together a quick script to respond to Eastwood. He didn't take the time to do anything that would have made the characters in the story likable. Theme of the movie, "Poor WWII black soldiers are discriminated against and must embrace sex with white women in order to cope, instead of fighting the war and becoming heroes!"

[–] heelmaster2000 11 years ago

I actually enjoyed Miracle better then Flags. I know the film wasn't very well made but neither was Flags, this film was just a good deal more enjoyable IMHO.

[–] activista 11 years ago

@marcusarow

Watch the film again, and you'll figure it out.

[–] activista 11 years ago

@chas437

What stereotypes? The soldiers didn't spend their time chasing and "trying to screw white chicks," as you put it---they spent the majority of the film fighting, trying to stay alive, and having to put up with a racist-as-hell commander who wouldn't even give them the reinforcements they needed for help when they actually needed it. Were you even watching the same film I was? Dosen't sound like it. Yeah, the film isn't your conventional Hollywood war flick, which is what I liked about it--it was more like an actual Italian film,to me---plus it was shot beautifully, and one shot of the soldiers in one frame is filmed beautifully, like a still life painting brought to life.

[–] TopFrog 8 years ago

Better than Flags of Our Fathers? That's sure setting the bar low. Miracle at St. Anna certainly had some very powerful scenes, more powerful than anything I remember from Flags of Our Fathers, but this had to be one of the most inconsistent films I've ever seen -- a lot of it was downright awful. Eastwood's Letters from Iwo Jima stands head and shoulders above both films.