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Laramie Movie Scope:
Gods and Generals

A movie almost as long as the Civil War itself

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by Robert Roten, Film Critic
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March 3, 2003 -- "Gods and Generals" is an epic civil war saga intended to be part of a trilogy of films about America's bloodiest war, along with "Gettysburg." It is produced by some of the same people who made "Gettysburg" (both movies are directed by Ronald F. Maxwell), and it is based on a trilogy of books by authors Michael and Jeff Shaara: "Gods and Generals," "Gettysburg" and "The Last Full Measure." Unlike "Gettysburg," however, "Gods and Generals" is slow-moving and stilted and is punctuated by speeches rather than drama and action.

The movie is centered on the rebel general Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson (played by Stephen Lang, who played General George Pickett in "Gettysburg") a heroic figure whose rise and fall was mirrored by the fortunes of the rebels. He, like Robert E. Lee (played in the film by Robert Duvall) had to choose between serving the Union or serving Virginia. Jackson said, "I love the Union, but I love Virginia more." A devout Christian, he had no fear on the battlefield, leaving his fate entirely in the hands of God. His cause, and the cause of many of the rebels, was freedom. He and the other sotherners felt the south had the right to leave the Union and that Union troops invading the south were trying to take away their freedom. Union soldiers, on the other hand, felt they were fighting to preserve the Union. As Lt. Col. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain (played by Jeff Daniels, who played the same role in "Gettysburg") said during the film, it is fairly hypocritical of the south to claim to be fighting for freedom whole holding a race of people in slavery. Some historians have observed that it was the Civil War that made the United States a country. Before that, it was a collection of states. The allegiance of the people was to their state first, country second. The movie makes this point very clear. After the Civil War, it was the other way around.

The movie begins just before the Civil War, but after Fort Sumpter was attacked by the south. Robert E. Lee was offered command of the Union armies, but refused. He instead accepted the command of the Army of Virginia and later became the commander of all Confederate forces. Had he accepted the Union command, the war would probably have been much shorter. After a slow start, the story covers three major battles in the Civil War, the battles of Bull Run, Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville, all major victories for the south. The film graphically shows the folly of outdated military tactics used in the war (the Civil War is often called the first modern war). One of the worst tactics used was to use long skirmish lines of men in open fields offering no cover to attack fortified positions backed by artillery. This tactic resulted in military disaster for the North at Fredericksburg, and for the South at Gettysburg. Although the film does depict a successful bayonette charge, very few soldiers in the Civil War were killed by bayonettes. Most were killed by bullets, exploding artillery shells, accidents or disease.

The film also has some moments of drama, such as the scene where Jackson breaks down and cries over an unexpected loss, scenes between Chamberlain and his wife (played by Mira Sorvino) and between Jackson and his wife (played by Kali Rocha). There is also a nice scene involving a slave named Martha (played by Donzaleigh Abernathy, daughter of Civil Rights leader Ralph Abernathy) who is torn between the north and the south when the house in Fredericksburg she serves in becomes a hospital for wounded and dying Union soldiers. Another good scene has Jackson praying with his black cook, Jim Lewis (portrayed by Frankie Faison). The two pray for different things. Lewis prays concerning his enslaved fellow blacks. Jackson hopes the South will free the blacks of its own accord. Another memorable scene has a Yankee soldier exchanging coffee for tobacco with a rebel soldier, and making a pretty good joke about the ineptness of northern General Ambrose Burnside (Alex Hyde-White). Another scene shows a father and son choosing to be on opposite sides of the war.

The issue of slavery arises occaisonally in the film, but it is not main focus of the film. The main focus of the film is the war itself, not causes of the war. Slavery was one of the main causes of the war, of course, but this film is not about slavery and it is certainly not a debate about slavery. The film concentrates mainly on the issue of states' rights. Is this a major weakness of the film? No. The issue of slavery is addressed adequately in the historical context of the events depicted.

My problems with this film are not political (in fact, I think political criticism of films is folly) but structural. The film moves too slowly, especially in the beginning. It is set up like a disaster movie, as we methodically get to know all 20 or so main characters. Then there are the speeches, historically correct, no doubt, but they are too long, too dry, too emotionless, and are not essential to the story. An example is Chamberlain's lengthy speech about Ceasar crossing the Rubicon River in ancient Italy on his way to Rome with his legions. Chamberlain reels this speech off just before his troops march into disaster at the battle of Fredericksburg. Chamberlain, being a college professor, probably could not help himself from giving a lecture on the follies of war and the meaning of the phrase "crossing the Rubicon" (to embark on a hazardous venture), but the filmmakers should have known better than to indulge this wordy folly. The film runs three hours and 36 minutes (plus a 12-minute intermission) as it is. Cutting some speeches and reducing the screen time of some extraneous characters (like the Beale family) might have quickened the pace of the film.

That being said, the battles are well-staged, although some of those computer graphics-generated artillery explosions looked pretty fake. As in "Gettysburg," thousands of Civil War buffs in authentic-looking costumes and weapons re-enacted the battle scenes, making them real spectacles. This is a luxury most filmmakers don't have. The battles in the film capture much of the cruelty, waste, madness and folly of war. One memorable scene is the charge of the Irish Brigade of New York against a stone wall position at Fredericksburg, defended by Irish of the South. Another memorable scene has Chamberlain and other Union soldiers trapped on the same battlefield for two days, hiding behind the corpses of fellow soldiers until they get permission to retreat.

The film does have good battle scenes and there is some drama in some of its subplots, but it suffers from too many dull speeches, some dead-end subplots and some uninteresting characters. There is a good song by folk superstar Bob Dylan over the closing credits of the film. There is enough good material for a decent two-hour movie. Unfortunately, it runs about an hour and a half longer than that. This film rates a C.

For more information on this film, including downloads, about the film, view trailer and a photo gallery, click on this link to the official home page of Gods and Generals.

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Copyright © 2003 Robert Roten. All rights reserved.
Reproduced with the permission of the copyright holder.
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Robert Roten can be reached via e-mail at my last name at lariat dot org. [Mailer button: image of letter and envelope]

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