And you thought American politics were the only place people were constantly throwing around the word "partisan." Spike Lee has brought his Miracle at St. Anna to the place it was filmed and is set, Italy, and many of the locals are none too happy about the way their hometown heroes are depicted in the film.

While primarily telling the story of four black American soldiers who are separated from their unit, St. Anna also intersects with several Italian partisans, a resistance group that fought against both invading Nazis and Italian Fascism. The "miracle" of the title is actually a 1944 massacre committed by Nazis, and the movie suggests that some Italian partisans may have had a hand in making that happen.

After a press screening in Rome, Variety reports, the film's screenwriter James McBride had to issue an apology to anyone who was offended. "I am very sorry if I have offended the partisans. I have enormous respect for them. As a black American, we understand what it's like for someone to tell your history, and they are not you."

Lee, in his usual fashion, wasn't groveling for anyone, and probably proceeded to offend even more people than his movie did. "I am not apologizing for anything. I think these questions are evidence that there is still a lot about your history during the war that you (Italians) have got to come to grips with."

Variety notes that the movie was not well-received by local critics, and you can't imagine Lee helped matters with quotes like that. But the article doesn't get into the issue of whether McBride and Lee's accounts of the events are factual, and hey, maybe it doesn't matter. Two Americans have stepped into the sensitive history of another country, and no cheerleading or condemnation from the American sidelines is going to make a difference. This seems like a controversy for the Italians and the Italians alone.