General Pickett, telling Robert E. Lee tearfully: "Sir, there is no division"...

Rating: 7/10 (5 July 2010)

While GETTYSBURG has several drawbacks--mainly the sprawling amount of time taken to depict the fierce Civil War battle with two viewpoints and philosophies--it compensates with its historical accuracies while at the same time compressing the three-day battle into the framework of a lengthy film.
Its major asset is the sincerity of all of the major performances--and that includes TOM BERENGER looking magnificently scruffy behind his impressive beard, MARTIN SHEEN as Robert E. Lee, STEPHEN LANG as George Pickett, JEFF DANIELS and C. THOMAS HOWELL as Confederate brothers, RICHARD JORDAN as Lewis Armistead and SAM ELLIOTT as John Buford.
Another fine asset is the stirring musical background with patriotic war themes and drum beating exercises adding flourish to the drama. The sets, costumes and color photography are all first rate, but some will be impatient with the talk between battles which is sometimes a little too extensive. All of the battle scenes look like a re-enactment, a soft core version of the more graphic horrors of war that are rampant in many more recent war films.
Still, it's an impressive film from start to finish and the performances are all admirable.
The most haunting exchange of dialog occurs at the end of the battle with Pickett being told by Robert E. Lee to keep an eye on his division.
"Sir," says a tearful Pickett, "there is no division."