Missed opportunity

Rating: 6/10 (21 February 2003)

Take the 3 most pivotal days in a nation's history-three days on which the fate of two peoples were held in the balance. Throw in a colossal struggle involving tens of thousands of soldiers. Add a host of powerful personalities who commanded each of the armies. Top it all off with chaos, blood, sacrifice, and honor. Add that all together and you should get an incredible movie, right?
Uh, wrong. The makers of GETTYSBURG, so concerned with capturing historical accuracy, ignored competent storytelling and gave us this ponderous monstrosity. I don't think many filmgoers actually mind extremely long movies, provided they are GOOD! This film labors between battle scenes with all of the energy of a 3 toed sloth.
Unfortunately, the even battle sequences themselves don't make everything about this film worthwhile. There are virtually no large panoramic shots of the battlefield to give the viewer any kind of sense of scale. We've read for years about the grandeur, for example, of Pickett's charge. However, we only see them marching forward in small groups. You never get to see the whole of the Confederate line move forward. This lack of scale contributes to GETTYSBURG feeling very much like a TV Movie of the Week.
Much was made about how wonderful it was to use actual Civil War re-enactors for GETTYSBURG's battle sequence. Unfortunately, that's exactly what they look like. Everybody's uniforms are nice and clean and all of their equipment looks shiny and new. This hardly captures the gritty and fetid reality of combat during this war.
I wish that better film makers with a better script would try to make a film on this battle. This subject matter cries out for it.