From CBC News Canada……
Stories of minority soldiers largely unknown
The hope is for Miracle at St. Anna to draw attention to the wartime contributions of minority soldiers, so much of which remains largely unknown to the general public, the director said.
A professor of film for New York University (who provided his cast with an extensive “war room” of movies, literature and research documents as part of their preparation), Lee ran through a host of examples, ranging from the black fighter pilots known as the Tuskegee Airmen to the Nisei (second-generation Japanese-American) soldiers who fought on the European front.
Historically, he said, U.S. films depicting the war focus on only one perspective.
“John Wayne is kicking Nazi ass and he’s kicking Japanese ass. If it’s a western, he’s killing the savage Indians … I’m not trying to kill [Wayne's reputation], because it wasn’t his fault, but he was built up to represent America,” Lee said.
“We cannot continue putting out these lies again and again. Young people growing up have no idea that this stuff even happened.”
Next spring, Lee pointed out, George Lucas is set to release a film about the Tuskegee Airmen.
“Hopefully [St. Anna and Lucas's film] will spark the many other stories that have yet to be told about this great war and the so-called great generation.”
i just got chills
Yea, I get the same feeling watching this. Gonna be a GOOD movie!
Spike Lee has a good point, until movies and what-not like this come out, majority of us just don’t know…..
And George Lucas making a Tuskegee Airmen is koo, but we’ve already seen a movie about them, IMO he should make a movie about some of these lesser known that Lee talks about…..