The Civil War Returns (Gods and Generals)

The American Enterprise ^ | March 2003 | Bill Kauffman

[StAthanasiustheGreat]

Mouth watering, date marked. Wow, something tells me the theater won't be packed though, shame.

[John H K]

1) An Intermission? Thank God....I've long been complaining that this fine tradition in long movies had been abandoned.

2) I don't think the slap at "Glory" early on was warranted. It demonstrated more subtlety than people think. I think it was key that it emphasized that the last thing most of the Union army thought they were doing was "fighting to free the slaves"...they saw themselves as "preserving the Union." And much of the Union army was portrayed as corrupt, brutal, and racist.

[GOP_Proud]

...Confederates Thomas J. “Stonewall” Jackson and Robert E. Lee, and Joshua Chamberlain and Winfield Scott Hancock of the Union army—through three battles leading up to Gettysburg: First Bull Run, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville. His focus settles on Jackson, seemingly the most forbidding of the quartet, a strange, distant, severely religious lemon-sucking man of the western Virginia mountains.


...which became West "by God" Virginia. He may have been on the "wrong" side, but we still claim him. Afterall, we claim Don Knots.

[TomServo]

Dixie Ping!

[GOP_Proud]

I think we may be pleasantly surprised. The big problem is the lack of a draw for women. This is, however, one woman who will be there...but I'm a history nut.

[Valin]

something tells me the theater won't be packed though, shame.

I've got a sneaking suspicion you wrong. At least I hope so.

[southernbychoice]

You and me both!

[John H K]

...which became West "by God" Virginia. He may have been on the "wrong" side, but we still claim him. Afterall, we claim Don Knots.
I'm always a bit bemused by the irony on some of the Civil War threads when people supporting the right of Confederate states to secede get all offended by pro-Union counties seceeding from Confederate states :-)

[WhiskeyPapa]

bump

[EternalVigilance]

I saw the trailer for Gods and Generals awhile back. Even that was riveting.

Not very often I feel compelled to head for the Cinemaplex, but this looks like a truly great film.

[EternalVigilance]

That is a pretty humorous irony, isn't it... ;-)

[dljordan]

I think you may be wrong on this one. At least I hope so. Most kids get NO education in school, maybe this will help. I still have letters written by my Great-Great-Grandfather from the battles of Signal Mountain and Chikamauga that got me interested in finding out more about the war. He finally got wounded by grape-shot (In the butt) and decided to go back to the farm in Hickman County, Tennessee. After the war he wouldn't take the Oath of Allegiance and so couldn't get his Veteran's Pension. Stubborn.

[Valin]

Most kids get NO education in school

I put a lot of the blame on teachers and the "writers" of history books. It (IMO) an extremely talented person to turn something as exciting, thrilling as history in general and the subject of this thread in particular into something boring. But then I've always loved history.

[KarlInOhio]

All this talk about the movie, and no mention of Klansman Byrd's role as General Semmes:

[Treebeard]

Jeremy London, who plays an aide to Stonewall Jackson, is my wife's cousin, we've known him since he was a little kid. He was really excited over this picture when we visited with him over Christmas. For inspiration, he carried a photo of his great great grandfather, a Confederate Lieutenant.

There are gonna be some nitpickers re. the history, etc, so I'll start the ball rolling. If you go to the website www.godsandgenerals.com, click on Photo Gallery, then Images 11-20, Jeremy London is shown in image 14. Then, in image 15, Jeff Daniels is shown lecturing in a classroom as Professor Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain. On the board behind him, the word "Deity" is misspelled "Diety", if I read it correctly. How's THAT for nitpicking?

Jeremy London also played a character named Griffin in some TV show called Party of Five (never saw it), and is a cast member of 7th Heaven at the moment, I think. He's a good kid, and, by the way, said Senator Byrd was a consummate gentleman.

[bagman]

Boy, that arsonist Tecumseh Sherman was right. War is Hell!

Paul Semmes was forty-eight years of age when he was mortally wounded. This esteemed actor looks to be much older.

[KC_Conspirator]

I totally agree with you, but this review needed an intermission as well. The slap at "Glory" is also childish and smacks of sour grapes.

[Green Kayak]

deo vindice