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Spike Lee's 'Miracle at St. Anna'

G. Allen Johnson   San Francisco Chronicle

Florentino Lopez was a Cuban American who often rode into New York on the same train as author James McBride. He was also, as McBride found out later, a former Buffalo Soldier.

"(McBride) rode the train into the city for years without knowing his story," said actor Laz Alonso, who portrays Hector Negron, a fictionalized version of Lopez, in Spike Lee's World War II epic "Miracle at St. Anna," which is based on McBride's book.

"Until (Lopez) opened up, McBride had no idea his friend was carrying so much pain and anguish and guilt. (The Buffalo Soldiers) were unsung heroes - there was a tremendous amount of pride in wearing that patch. And so I take tremendous pride in playing this role, because a lot of my lines are direct quotes from McBride's interviews."

The Buffalo Soldiers was the nickname of the 92nd Infantry Division, which consisted of 15,000 African American men who served in Italy from August 1944 to November 1945. They were known as a particularly tough group, and those who survived found that their contributions went unnoticed upon their return to the States.

Because of that, 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 sense of mission - to honor the real-life heroes of a forgotten chapter of black history.

"You don't read about these guys in history books. You don't hear about the Buffalo Soldiers during Black History Month. You don't hear about these guys - ever," said Omar Benson Miller, a San Jose State graduate who plays Sam Train, the emotional center of the film. "They fought. They died. They shed their own blood. They gave the most precious thing anybody could ever give, which is their own life, for this country.

"If they came home, they would not be able to sip out of the same water fountain, not be able to sit at the same lunch counter (as white people). That's really more patriotic than fighting for a country that believes in you and loves you."

Though the film and novel are fictionalized, the story is based on true events, and the characters also have a basis in fact. The story is about four Buffalo Soldiers - Train, Negron, Aubrey Stamps (Derek Luke) and Bishop Cummings (Michael Ealy) - who hide out in an Italian village, with the aid of partisans, as the Nazis close in. Train has adopted a 9-year-old boy (Matteo Sciabordi), whose life he saved. Lee takes the time to develop characters from all sides - the Germans, Italians and American soldiers - which results in a 160-minute film.

"Miracle" doesn't have the feel of "Saving Private Ryan" or "Flags of Our Fathers." It's more like a Samuel Fuller film: Its rich portrait of an isolated unit of men who get to know each other and themselves recalls "The Big Red One" or "The Steel Helmet."

"There was no Gen. Patton, no John Wayne character," Luke said. "It was just these men. Spike was after reality, more of an ensemble collaboration. ... Spike showed us a lot of tapes on propaganda and the war and perceptions of the war."

To forge his unit, Lee put the actors through a two-week "Spike boot camp." They learned the art of soldiering from 5 a.m. to 8 p.m., and no cell phones or other modern amenities were allowed. Miller lost 60 pounds in 10 weeks to prepare for the role.

"Working for Spike is not easy," Alonso said. "When you have a perfectionist who gives 120 percent of himself, there's no possible way in the world you could think of giving him any less. My first day on set, we're in freezing water up to our waist, wet, uncomfortable, maneuvering in terrain that wasn't designed to be filmed on - mossy, slippery, rocks, cold river.

"Spike Lee is in the water with the rest of us, yelling, 'Action!' and there 12 hours a day, standing up, just as uncomfortable as we are."

None of the actors have ever met a real Buffalo Soldier. Many of the survivors McBride interviewed, including Lopez, have died. But several Buffalo Soldiers are scheduled to attend a Los Angeles screening of the film on Wednesday, and on Saturday the cast and the soldiers are expected to attend a celebration of the Tuskegee Airmen, the famed black flying unit, at Compton/Woodley Airport.

What will the actors say when they meet them?

"Thank you. Well done," said Miller, who added that he approached his role "as a journey to honesty." "The foundation and groundwork the Buffalo Soldiers laid is instrumental for the progression of race relations in this country and instrumental in the progression of someone like myself to be in the position that I'm in. ... The civil rights movement was birthed out of the brothers coming back from the war that saw how life was on the other side of the ocean, and refused to be treated in this less-than way."

Alonso said one thing he might ask the Buffalo Soldiers is how much it blows their minds that a black man is a major-party nominee for president.

"World War II was not that long ago. It was only 63 years ago," Alonso said. "Although we often focus on what hasn't happened, it really should be noted we've come a tremendously long way. I think that speaks to how great this country really is."

"Heck," Miller said, "I'm 29 years old, and it blows my mind."

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