Working with a screenplay by James McBride based on his novel, Lee goes for broke in piling on the events as African-American soldiers fight their way in Italy during 1944. One recalls the Italian neo-realist films as Lee’s soldiers become involved with the Italian people in various ways, including the befriending of an Italian boy by a U.S. soldier, involvement with the partisans and a situation of betrayal.

There is also the encounter with a young Italian woman. One GI has a crush on her but respects her. Another exploits her sexual vulnerability. That doesn’t say much for the morality of the woman, who goes for the down and dirty soldier instead of the nice guy. Lee doesn’t flinch in showing the horror of war, with potential death at every turn and a brutal massacre by the Nazis. The men in the platoon that is the center of focus are isolated behind enemy lines, and they are also shown as expendable as far as the white military establishment is concerned.

The entire film unfolds as a flashback from what would seem to be a senseless killing by a bank teller in New York. The screenplay struggles to make the connection, which also involves a statue that was seized during the invasion, a statue that turns out to have been valuable.

Most valuable is the effort of the film to pay homage to the many African-Americans who did their part for the country, but were treated as second-class citizens. However, the film attempts to cover too much territory and is thus excessively long. Yet that is understandable given the challenge. An African-American actor once told me he wanted a chance to make his Western, to make his John Wayne film, to do all of the things that white actors and directors have been able to do. It’s as if Spike Lee feels that too, and has tried to pack all of such desires into one huge epic. This is his statement, stylistically and content-wise.