A Good Film If You Are Questioning Your Misguided American Nationalism

Rating: 1/10 (16 December 2000)

I must say that I am surprised at how well this film has been reviewed; some even go so far as to believe it was robbed at Oscar time!!! While I think this movie is nothing more than an exhibition of American nationalism, the movie does have some strong points. Firstly, the set the design is amazing and the fact that most of it was shot on location is a wonderful attribute for students of history like me. Secondly, the make up was brilliant, as the actors really did look like the people they were playing. Thirdly, the battle scenes were perfectly re-created.
However, these three points are probably the only good things I could find in this film. My problems with this film are numerous, but I will name the main three.
(1) Ronald F. Maxwell should never get one of his screenplays turned into a film again. When looking at his previous films, I am not surprised that he turned in something as horrible as this, because it is very obvious that this kind of material is too much for him. Maybe Michael Shaara's novel is to blame, but I have never read it and do not plan to after seeing this film. The script was terrible! It consists of one American Patriotic cliché after another and is more of a collection of bravo speeches than it is actual dialogue. It is also one of the most one-sided views of history that I have ever witnessed as it portrays these people, especially the generals, as saints that were all so concerned with the problem of slavery. All I can say about this is: read your history books!! In short, the Civil War started over an issue of state's rights, and not slavery, and once Lincoln specified his war arms to be about slavery, it was an immensely unpopular decision. None of this kind of thing is shown.
(2) The acting was disgraceful and this made the short commings of the script even more obvious. Then again, when was the last time people like Tom Berenger, Martin Sheen, Jeff Daniels or Stephen Lang give a good dramatic performance?
(3) The music was another element that made the film seem like one big cliché, with big dramatic `hero-scores' playing every time one of the 'heroes' rode his horse to the top of a mountain, looking all profound and about to head into another speech-like monologue.
I can understand why Americans must like this film, because it would undoubtedly feed into their nationalist beliefs about how wonderful their nation is, and deftly paints a picture of each of these people involved in the conflict the way Americans probably want to remember them. If you want to see good set-designs, makeup and battle scenes, then this movie is fantastic. If you are looking for anything deeper than that, don't bother.
I give it 3/10.