Miracles seem to be increasingly difficult to come across in film, even with the significant changes that have occurred in film and media over time.

However irony does not side with “Miracle at St. Anna,” a film that is no exception to this claim.

World War II, although a frequently reused setting, still has a few unique stories yet to be depicted in film.

The Buffalo Soldiers, an all-black regiment fighting for the United States during the war, sets the theme for “Miracle at St. Anna.” Four soldiers, particularly Colonel Hector Negron (Laz Alonso) set out on an epic journey to survive and escape certain doom.

The four soldiers escape from a deadly firefight with a Nazi unit and flee into the mountains of Tuscany.

One of the soldiers, Sam Train (Omar Benson Miller), finds a small Italian boy hidden in a mountainside hovel.

Train liberates the child from his impending doom and takes him with the remaining soldiers.

The radio the soldiers have along has broken down and so the men must proceed with what little resources they have.

As the movie progresses, the bond between Train and the Italian boy grows to be not only strong, but an essential part of the story.

Train is no ordinary soldier and the boy is also by no means ordinary.

The boy’s mysterious story unravels with time, revealing a horrifying past.

Horrific scenes are woven into a story that offers interludes of humor – and less frequently, sexual themed “breaks” from the violence. Director Spike Lee captures a not-so-kid-friendly style of humor which may or may not detract from the film depending on its audience.

The film suffers from poor pacing of the plot.

For a grand total of 160 minutes you see almost exclusively character development; barely anything else happens, especially in the second half of the film.

Spotted with flashbacks, distracting sexual tension and racism, it’s hard to believe the film manages to ever reach the end.

Be warned: those who are squeamish or sensitive may not find this film appealing at all.

Although gore and violence have been glorified more than ever in recent years, “Miracle at St. Anna” takes it to a whole new level. Some scenes could only be described as genuinely awful. Spike Lee has no mercy for his audience either – the horrible scenes are not short, and they are played out over several gut-wrenching acts of indiscriminate slaughter.

Overall it would be difficult to say in what genre “Miracle at St. Anna” could be placed.

Scenes hop and skip from humor to the mindless butchering of innocent Italians to humor again.

The redeeming quality of the film would be in the relationships developed between the four Buffalo Soldiers and the small child Train rescues.

But why watch a 160-minute-long movie that is confused about its own genre and frankly could do better in presenting its multiple genres anyway, when it’s possible to watch an established war movie, or an established comedy?

Make sure to choose your battles ,and movies, wisely.