Spike Lee accuses Clint Eastwood of erasing black GIs from history

Leading African-American director condemns fellow film-maker’s failure to portray role of hundreds of black soldiers at Iwo Jima

Spike Lee launched a bitter attack on Clint Eastwood yesterday, condemning his failure to include a single African-American soldier in his films about the Battle of Iwo Jima.

The Oscar-nominated African-American director, one of the most influential figures in contemporary cinema, said that black soldiers were conspicuous by their absence from Flags of Our Fathers and Letters from Iwo Jima. Hundreds took part in the battle for the Japanese island in 1945.

Lee said: “There were many African-Americans who survived that war and who were upset at Clint for not having one [in the films]. That was his version: the negro soldier did not exist. I have a different version.”

Miracle at St Anna is an epic story about members of the all-black 92nd Buffalo Division, which fought the Germans in Italy.

While refraining from using the word “racist”, Lee said that rewriting Second World War history was typical of Hollywood. The Dirty Dozen was among the few films that showed the contribution made by African-American soldiers, he said. White heroes played by John Wayne and other Hollywood stars had until now overshadowed the sacrifice of brave heroes of colour who laid down their lives for their country, he added.

“Here’s the paradox,” he said. “These African-American men wanted to fight against fascism in the name of democracy. At the same time, they were still second-class citizens.” Although Lee emphasised his respect for Eastwood as a film-maker, he claimed that the director had been told of the African-Americans who fought at Iwo Jima, and had chosen to ignore that “information”.

He said: “It’s not like he could say he didn’t know. It was a conscious decision not to have any black people.” Half an hour later, Eastwood was at the other end of La Croisette, giving his own press conference for his latest film, L’Échange (formerly The Changeling), the story of a woman, played by Angelina Jolie, who brought down a corrupt police department in 1920s Los Angeles.

Asked twice by The Times to respond to Lee’s criticism, Eastwood stared out into the audience as the compere refused to accept a question that did not relate to L’Échange. Later, his spokeswoman also declined to comment.

Miracle at St Anna, set in 1944, tells the story of four black Americans who find themselves trapped behind enemy lines and separated from their unit after one of them risks his life to save an Italian boy.

The film is based on the 2002 book by the bestselling African-American novelist James McBride. The village in the title, Sant’Anna di Stazzema, was the site of a massacre by SS troops who rounded up and slaughtered 560 civilians.

Lee’s film reflects the pain felt by the segregated black soldiers. One says in the film: “I love Italians. I ain’t a zzzzzz here. I’m just me.” Lee added: “At the beginning of the war, black soldiers did not fight. They cooked, cleaned and drove trucks. That was all they were allowed to do. There was a theory that the black soldiers would run. That was proven false.” Miracle at St Anna was a testament to brave men who fought for the country they loved.

Wearing a T-shirt promoting Barack Obama, he also spoke of the significance of the United States having a black American president one day. His great-grandmother was born a slave and would never have believed it.