I saw the movie last night in Tysons Corner Virginia. That's inside the beltway of Washington DC. There were about 10 people in the audience.
The movie was too long and not really well organized the way Gettysburg was well organized. That is, Gettysburg was the story of one battle. The story telling organized itself well around this one great battle with the climatic vain glorious butcher shop of pickett's charge.
God's and generals was several stories: the story of three battles (1st Manasses, Fredericksburg,Chancellersville)plus the story of Stonewall Jackson's brief but storied career as a civil war general. Throw in some Robert E. Lee and numerous lush southern family set piece scenes in the parlor or on the front porch or in the foyer. Finally, throw in a bunch of Southern generals scenes where the dudes just kind of seem to be there and pose on their horses. Oh and then there's Ted Turner doing the rennassance patron bit and seeing his face in the moving pictures-- Figure, Heck he got something for his 80 million smackers.
The battle scenes were good. The ghastly bureaucratic slaughter of union troops at Fredericksburg was the emotional climax of the movie just as the Picketts charge was the climax of the earlier movie Gettysburg. (and the federal troops called out "Fredericksburg Fredericksburg" to Pickett's men dragging themselves off the battlefield in history and in the movie. In history Gettysburg comes after Fredericksburg and in this trilogy the movie Gettysburg is released before the Movie God's and Generals in which we see the battle of Fredericksburg--got that.)
But the movie went on long after the battle of Fredericksburg ended. In fact, I couldn't help but think people died because they were bored with themselves. Or maybe they had characters fit for some other age. Maybe those characters fitted the time 100 years before when virginia was last a wild frontier. maybe those characters couldn't countenance railroads. or the telegraph. much less the new cannons or guns.
I don't know. There was a strangeness to the movie to my lights. Maybe I don't want to see tragedy. Where the outcome is doom. and you know its doom and the people in story know its doom. So we're all waiting for godot only godot is death.
I'd of liked Jackson better if there was either less of him or more of somebody else who was powerful enough and different enough to bring Jackson's character and thinking into context. The movie had the glimmering of this sort of thing in the first cut between the Jackson and his wife and the union officer and his wife--and then this was dropped.
As it is Jackson just sucks up whole scenes so it looks as interesting and informative as a close up on a tree. And the lens just holds there oh for several hours. Why? Because there can't be anything more interesting than bark.
The battle scenes were good. The ghastly bureaucratic slaughter of union troops at Fredericksburg was the emotional climax of the movie ..... But the movie went on long after the battle of Fredericksburg ended. No matter how you look at it, Fredericksburg was an ugly battle.
It was not won by brilliant Confederate leadership. You or I could have commanded the Confederate forces and achieved the same results. Fredericksburg was a battle that should never have been fought and the outcome was determined by Burnsides' stupidity and stubborness.
Chancellorsville, on the other hand, was as elegant example of generalship as can be found in military history. An army almost half the size of the attacking army routed the invasion by splitting it's forces in the face of a superior enemy and taking the offensive initiative in a flanking movement to outflank the enemy's original flanking movement.
For time limitations, several major battles involving Jackson needed to be trimmed for this movie. Those trimmed included the Seven Days, the entire Valley Campaign and Second Manassas. All of those can also be called very elegant victories by Confederate forces against a superior foe.
If any battle should have been cut out, it should have been the travesty of Fredericksburg.