..."Fourscore a seven years ago"...

Rating: 10/10 (14 August 2012)

The American civil war has got to be one the most interesting yet horrid wars ever to break lose in pre-modern history.Even with modern technology developing and battle tactics changing, it has become one of the most heartbreaking wars as brother fought against brother for a cause right in their own eyes. And out of all the civil war movies produced, only one truly shows this to it's full extent.
This is my review on Gettysberg.
The plot goes like this; It's July 1863, halfway though the American civil war. The leader of the Confederates, Robert E Lee, launches a attack on the little town of Gettysberg. Little did both sides know that it was going to be the most ghastly battles ever to be raged on American soil.
The American civil war is one of my favourite topics in history. There is just so much political intrigue between the to sides of the war. Both sides had very good reasons to grab a gun a fight for their country. Conferderates wanted Slavery and felt that the union, who wanted to end slavery, was taking away a major part of their economy. The union thought slavery was completely inhuman. In a way, this topic is depressing because they weren't fighting against another country that they could join together and fight. This war pitted friends, brothers and loved ones against each other, sometimes unwillingly. America was on the brink of collapse.
Onto the movie. the movie centres around the topic mentioned above but delves deep into it. However, unlike most civil war movies, Gettysberg shows both sides of the story, highlighting every reason for fighting. In my opinion, they couldn't have done it better as you feel for every character in the film. every loss in battle makes you cringe. Wiether your loyal to the union or the confederacy, you are going to feel for each individual character.
The acting is top notch for a film like this. Jeff Daniels takes centre stage on the union side, staring as Col. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain. His performance is definitely memorable as he recites many of the films great speeches and delivers the best performance of his career. Other people that stood out were Martin Sheen, Stephen Lang and Tom Berenger. Each and every performance was heart felt and they all seemed to enjoy every minute of their performances, even when their characters are suffering loss.
The tone of the film is fantastic. It's start6s off a bit slow developing the characters back stories but once the battles take place, you really start to get the feeling the director is trying to get across. All the scenes before battles sometimes feel a bit meaningless, but most show the true depressing fact that all the soldiers don't want to fight, they just want what's good for their state and country. One thing this film does brilliantly is the relationship between two of the characters. Both play Generals on both sides of the war. They both long to see each other again before the battle proceeds but fear that they might not make it out alive. This is where the film shines and it portrays one of the best friendships in the history of film.
The action scenes are also fantastic. Each scene, including the huge main battle at the end, begin with a huge battle plan which is interesting to see them establish. History/military fans will enjoy each and every moment. The body count is huge with thousands of human bodies on screen at one time and it works to the film's advantage, making it feel huge.
In conclusion, you probably know how I feel about the movie. It is VERY long and it could have been cut down a bit as there seems to be a lot of fill, but I'm not going to mark the film down for that. I say if you like history and the military see this film. Many may find this film boring and I would see where they are coming from but this film is right up my street.
Im giving it a solid 10/10.