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Spike Lee's Miracle at St. Anna Poster - What is Disney Hiding?

by Alex Billington
June 9, 2008
Source: Cinematical

I really don't care about the ongoing battle between Spike Lee and Clint Eastwood, so instead of bantering about that fiasco, I thought I'd bring you guys some news that you might really care about. The first poster for Spike Lee's upcoming WWII drama Miracle at St. Anna has debuted courtesy of Cinematical and it's pretty impressive. However, there's a lot more to this discussion than just a well-designed poster. The film chronicles the story of four black American soldiers who are members of the US Army as part of the all-black 92nd Buffalo Soldier Division stationed in Tuscany, Italy during World War II.

Before I go on any further, take a look at the new poster in all of its glory below.

Update: Apparently my claim about Disney's position on this wasn't as strong as I first thought. Either way, I think it's best to let you view this and enjoy it on your own without any of my own opinion.

Note: This poster is actually the same image that's used on the cover of the book that the film is based off of. It's not the original cover, but rather a recent reprint used to tie-in with the movie. I wondering if they're playing off of the aspect that it doesn't matter what race you are - you can still be a hero?

Miracle at St. Anna is directed by the legendary Spike Lee, of Malcolm X, He Got Game, Summer of Sam, 25th Hour, and Inside Man previously. The film is based on a novel written by James McBride with a screenplay penned by McBride himself. Touchstone / Disney is releasing Miracle at St. Anna in theaters this September 26th.

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Related categories: Discussion, Opinions, Rumors

bob

uhhh, that hand definitely looks like it belongs to a black person.
http://www.damnilikethat.com Cecil

That's not the original cover of the book. That's the 2008 paperback cover.
George

Sure looks like a black persons hand to me.
http://www.firstshowing.net Alex Billington

I think you're missing the point a bit... I can see that, too, by why not show his face? It still feels like they were trying to hide that aspect "as much as they could."
Pickle

The movie might be good but it's clear to me that Disney is embarrassed about Spike Lee's immature racial rants against Clint Eastwood. I don't think that Disney is racial, it's really strategic marketing. Spike has always been a whiner. I recall Spike attacking Quentin Tarantino for using the "N-word" in one of his movies back in the 90s. If this bombs, I'm sure Disney will blame Spike's mouth.
The Brain

That statue looks white to me.
Spider

Looks like an average poster to me. I think that anyone is likely to interpret what they want to see and make their assumptions.
Rusty

I agree, I think you are looking way too much into the fact that the man's face isn't being shown, and it is obviously a black person's hand. A little too much conspiracy theory throwing around. Keep to the real cinema-news man.
therblig

Ok see here we have a topic that is all in itself touchy. The fact that you say disney is racist for not showing the head of the soldier is completly retarded. If Seth rogan was directing this you wouldnt have a problem with it but the fact that spike is doing the work it becomes this pool of things. I think in this day and age everyone is so quick to call the racist card. Its a poster AB thats it man, the fact that they didnt show it is cool, You see this boy all dirtied up, then a soldier next to him and ahead of a statue. You can only wonder what exactly was it that happened here. I wasnt wondering where the head of the soldier was, I actually didnt care, I saw the hand i knew he wasnt white, and i knew that he was of african descent. The whole thing is that its a movie about Black american soldiers, Man if they just put the title you wouldnt say that. Your one of those guys that reads the back of the book before you buy it and then decide by the ending if you like it or not? I usually like what you write AB and the arguements you make but this one i dont see any point. Sorry dude.
Shannen

Why do you need it to be so focused on the color of the characters? Can't the movie just be about soldiers surviving a war? And can't it be marketed as being about soldiers surviving a war. I like that Disney isn't shouting, "Hey look everyone! We made a movie about black people!"
Brian

Spike Lee is a dick. Instead of simply trying to change things, he feels the need to call everyone a racist.
Chris H.

Alex, are you serious? This article is worth deleting, just leave the poster up for us to see. Your entire premise for Disney being racist is because a face isn't visible and the hand is a little pale. You really have nothing else to offer except for that. You seem perfectly willing to start a race debate and create a storm simply because you can't see a face and have a beef with the color of the hand. Let's go down a long list of reasons for why this poster looks the way it does. 1. Artistic touch - I showed this to my brother, a student at the School of Visual Arts in Manhattan, and this poster has a lot of nice artistic quality to it. 2. Symbolism - A white child, scared out of his mind it appears, has a firm hand over his shoulder to symbolize the devotion of this African American soldier to protecting this child. Despite race, this soldier protects the innocent. The Buffalo patch also gives it away that this is the Buffalo Soldier unit, clearly indicating that it's an African American soldier that is in the picture. 3. The Obvious - The hand is black. My question to you, Alex, is do you consider the lighter skinned African Americans as not worthy of being called "Black"? Wasn't this issue covered with Obama's candidacy where people said he wasn't black enough? Is that guy in the picture not black enough for you, Alex? The man is black, end of story. Just because the hand wasn't as black as midnight doesn't mean Disney is racist. 4. The Frog Princess - Disney is developing for the first time in a long time a full-length traditionally hand drawn feature, called The Frog Princess. It takes place in New Orleans and focuses on a love story between people who are black. This feature has a lot of effort behind it from Disney, especially since this will add to the Disney princess ranks. For a racist company, they sure are pumping a lot of money and effort to make a movie about a bunch of people they hate. Alex, it's one thing to suggest the poster could have been done more effectively, but it's completely another when you pull racism into the mix. But I don't expect anything different from someone who idolizes Michael Moore... except that somehow your article doesn't have something about Bush being in cahoots with Disney in hiding this movie. I think you might have forgotten to add that in your rant.
http://movieguyreviews4u.blogspot.com Ryan

Spike Lee is such a dick after all the comments he says. His ego is bigger than Shamalyan's (probably f-ed up the spelling).
nha

Not the best poster at all... one of the weaker ww2 posters in fact. I really am cheesed off that in this day and age, a director has to go out of his way to proclaim the work of one race... this shouldn't happen!! The fact that this film is so evidently trying to say hey what about us, only goes to alienate the rest and thus fails to do exactly what it sets out to do! Poor effort Spike Lee... your movies are good, stop making everything about race and colour... there will always be rascits, as there will always be murders.. Also I hear Spike Lee got upset about Clint's lack of black people in his ww2 film - ummm hello the guy made a whole movie about the japanese! Not white people, nor americans and their dun dun dun (insert flag) struggle for democracy, so give the guy a break!! how can he be rascist?
GothicLiner

Don't judge a movie by the poster or a book by the cover. In this case, there will be less than meets the eye. "Miracle at St. Anna" is not that well written and is full of silly historical errors, creating the impression that the publishers were in a rush to publish anything McBride had to offer. Eastwood's "Flags of Our Fathers" does include a couple of shots of African-American Marines; 700 fought on Iwo Jima - out of a total of 80,000. They belonged to supply units located far from Mount Surabachi, where the events in the film took place. Also, several African-American Marines were in Eastwood's earlier movie "Heartbreak Ridge" (1986), which featured Moses Gunn and Mario van Peebles in leading roles.
http://handfulofwires.blogspot.com DCompose

Maybe the black person in the poster isn't like Wesley Snipes black, but rather Ice T black. Let's nap on it!
Rico

How many latinos were included in any given Spike Lee joint? Quick, let's get Guillermo del Toro to bitch about the lack of latinos in Spike Lee's films. LOL! Just blatantly stupid to play the race card and stir the pot. Spike, get a clue and a freakin grip man...............and to imply that a studio-especially a kid-friendly studio like Disney is racist, is just absurd!
Scott

Most of the comments here are ignorant. It's obvious that none of youv'e read the novel, which is excellent, thus the poster would make perfect sense without reading the recent flap into it. The script, which I've read, is fantastic, and there are fine Italian and German actors in this film.
Allison

The first thing that came to my mind when I first heard of the war of words between Eastwood and Lee was how long ago had Eastwood's films been released? It's been about 2 years and Lee is just now saying something about this? Now I see that Lee has a film coming out in a few months so what all of this looks like to me is he's using a platform for publicity which I think is petty, irresponsible and insincere. It seems that everytime Lee has a fit of racial injustice the press knows about it. Is Lee so concerned about racisim in this country or does his concern only surface when it serves him? I'm not so certain that Lee really cares that much about anything except what it can get him.
Pickle

Scott--#18. There are no ignorant comments here. Everyone is commenting on either the poster, Lee's rants, and/or the suggestion of possible racism of a major Hollywood studio. This thread is not about the content of the novel. Please be sure to read the article and the comments again AND stay on topic.
chuck69

spike lee...you claim clint eastwood is the racist one here, but lets look at your films...only time a white person is in them...if they are dating a black character, or they are the antagonist. white people are never spun in a positive light in your films, only the bad guys...do the right thing...it was ok for the black community to attack a white mans restaurant because he had no black folks pictures on the wall....and that is ok??? if you are not expected to include white folks in your films, or at least positively, why then should a white film maker be obliged to do the same.... freedom of expression protects your right to put it out there any way YOU feel, and it works the other way too. sad when a body of your work can't get attention on its own, without you throwing a racial spin on it...is this the only way you can garner any attention to you and your films?? i know that there are alot of racial white people out there, but it is time for blacks to admit they have an equal amount of racial people in their house too. geez.....why can't we get over this hump?? only when we come together will we realize their is a bigger enemy to both of our peoples....our own government. they love for us to not get along....it hides the dirty stuff they are doing to both sides...keeps all our eyes off what they do to all of us. grow up spike...besides.....when is the last time a whip cracked your backside, were you there during the civil rights movement? if you were you were a baby and only remember stories. racism still exists, sad as it is....but a far cry from what your fathers and grandfathers went through. only when BOTH sides let it go...will it truly be gone. and on a personal note.... and on behalf of white people all across america....sorry that white people i wasn't even related to brought your people over here and treated them so badly, hope that helps you heal a little. ps....are you going to go after mel gibson because black folks were not in braveheart??
original-6ix

allison and chuck69 you said it, all i will say is spike lee is a jerkoff, and you cant dirty up dirty harry motherfucker.
chuck69

allison, you put the "icing" on my cake, i was going to mention his self serving fits, but you had already covered it...nuff said
Ivan A. Arcaya,Sr.

I agree with your comments about Spike Lee. He has always practice reverse racism and discrimination against anyone that isn't Black. I am A Hispanic-American but my skin is white. During my youth in Camden, N.J.; The Blacks hated any Hispanic that had white skin. However; we were well armed and they left us alone. However; whenever they attacked our white friends ; we found ourselves fighting blacks. Throughout my life; I have been discriminated by blacks. Blacks are racist too! There is some myth in this country that blacks are not racist or discriminatory. Blacks discriminate against anyone that is not ebony black. They criticize Hispanic and White Women who are married to Blackman. I call it the Sister Syndrome. It's especially evident with celebrities. Black Women attacked koby Bryant for being married to a Latina and they attack Wesley Snipes because his long time companion was Japanese(I can't remember if they were married or just lovers) I remember watching The Baltimore Ravens Special on the NFL Network which followed them from the time they left for training camp to it's conclusion. The majority of the black players were married to white women. I'm a Marine and we use ethnic slurs and racist slurs among ourselves. It doesn't mean anything to us. We are all brother Marines and we would die for each other regardless of whether our brother is Black, Asian, White or Hispanic. Some of the bravest and patriotic Marines that I have served with our Whites from small towns. Senator Barack Obama is not Black. His is biracial. His African father left him. It was his White Mother and her White mother and father who raised him and taught him good values. He has to call himself Afro American in order to win The Afro American voters. If he went around saying that he is a Biracial America (Mulatto or Mestizo is Spanish); he would lose their vote. It's reverse discrimination. However; there were many whites who according to the poll did not vote for him because of the color of his skin. The polls stated that they were mainly White working class Americans. The Pollsters waiting outside the voting places even stated that one out of every Five Whites who voted in West Virginia stated that they vote for a presidential candidate according to his race. Racism exists in America among all the ethnic and racial group and it will continue to exist in the foreseeable future. Now back to the Movie; We Marines love War Movies and we will see Spike Lees movie because it's a war movie. Ivan,Sr.
craziemutant

i don't know, looks like they're just putting the focus on the kid. i don't think showing the face of the soldier is necessary. they're not focusing on one soldier saving one child. it's a black soldier saving this kid that you see. well, i haven't read the book so maybe i'm going in the wrong direction.
Scott

Pickle #20- You are the one who does not read clearly with comprehension: my post was about the poster, which people were trying to tie to the recent Spike and Clint flap. This is nonsense;the poster was out before then. Secondly, the emphasis on the child is appropriate per the novel, since the plot of the novel and the screenplay revolves around the boy. And it is clear that they are using this to appeal to a broad audience.
John

Of all the great war stories of African Americans in WWII and their brave acts in the face of a country that didn't support them Spike goes out and picks a story that is false and isn't even historically correct or well done but as Spike Lee puts it so eloquently "I know history. I'm a student of history." he must not know much because he dropped the ball on this one.
Lilscarlet15

Ok yall are way too harsh on Spike Lee. The man has a freaking point. He attacked East wood about the lack of African Americans in his films despite history's account for them. At Iwo Jima there were 2500 African Americans, and when Lee mentioned this to Eastwood, Eastwood told him to "Shut his face." Uh, if I were Lee, I would probably be pissed off as well. Bravo Lee for making war films and accounting the stories of those who don't often have a voice. that is my small bit of history for you Alex Alica