Poor Spike Lee. You just knew, the moment he lashed out at Clint Eastwood for leaving black soldiers out of his two-part Iwo Jima epic, that he'd really put his foot in it.

On Aug. 12, 1944, a Nazi battalion in the Tuscan village of Sant'Anna di Stazzema gunned down 560 men, women and children, a massacre that is re-enacted, along with a seemingly divine event, in "Miracle at St. Anna," an uneven blend of realism and fantasy. The movie is both vivid and baffling - which is to say, it was made by Spike Lee.

In flashes, the World War II saga "Miracle at St. Anna" reminds you of the necessity and invention of director Spike Lee. He may shoot this feature, like many before it, every which way, but he scores just often enough to ensure a few indelible images. Among them are a towering overhead shot of two dusty Louisiana roads, providing a literal crossroads for a car full of African-American soldiers about to head overseas; a helmet floating down a river near a carnage-strewn battlefield in Italy; a prayer montage, reminding us that prejudice whips up a torrent of bloody differences where there really aren't any, under the skin.