This is the first I’ve heard of Spike Lee’s next movie.  It’s about a significant event involving the Buffalo Soldiers, a segregated US Army unit that fought with nobility and bravery in World War II.

This is also the first I heard of the event, which happened in Italy.  The book on which the film is based, Miracle at St. Anna, sounds excellent.  And it’s a good sign that Mr Lee is collaborating with James McBride, the book’s author, on the screenplay.

Here’s the interview.  I’m glad to have read this today, when we need news of art that lifts and teaches, even when it must illuminate the crimes that contradict the principles of our beautifully conceived nation to do so.  This seems to be a story fit to take its place alongside all the other tales of what is necessary to make independence real for every citizen.

Happy Fourth of July!