Posted on 02/17/2003 10:49:31 AM PST by stainlessbanner
LEXINGTON, Va. - A statue of Stonewall Jackson faces the parade grounds of Virginia Military Institute and must be saluted regularly by newly enrolled cadets.
On Thursday night, about 130 cadets and 450 guests participated in the unveiling of an epic salute to the Confederate general and VMI professor at the Virginia premiere of "Gods and Generals." The movie, shot in part at VMI, stars actor Stephen Lang as Jackson.
"From the first day you come here, they tell you about VMI's involvement in the Civil War. It's nice to get a chance to see it (on the big screen) and see it recognized," said one cadet, freshman Patrick Grey.
Several cadets said they were honored and a bit dazzled to have Hollywood take an interest in their school.
"I was able to meet the big actors on Monday. That was pretty cool," senior Douglas Warner said.
The movie also stars Robert Duvall as Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee and Jeff Daniels as Union Col. Joshua Chamberlain.
"Gods and Generals" examines life during the Civil War and looks at many different aspects of Stonewall Jackson's life.
Jackson is shown both ordering the execution of deserters and developing a friendship with a 5-year-old girl. The audience sees the general trading gold braid from his cap for the girl's paper soldiers, and then sees how the friendship ends with her death from scarlet fever.
"That's the real hankie job when you get to that," said Danville native James I. "Bud" Robertson, a Virginia Tech professor who was a historical consultant on the film.
Jackson's religious convictions often take center stage in the film. Robertson said it would have been impossible to accurately portray Jackson otherwise.
"God has fixed the time of my death. I do not concern myself with that," Jackson says in the movie when asked how he can be so serene in battle.
Lang told the Register & Bee he spent time at VMI and read extensively to understand Jackson.
"I've been asked, 'How do you prepare for this role?' and I say you need to have two hands for it, because you've got to have the Bible in one hand and you've got to have Bud Robertson in the other," said Lang, referring to Robertson's biography of Jackson.
Early in "Gods and Generals," Jackson and his wife, Anna, are shown praying together in their house in Lexington before he leaves for war. Throughout the movie, there is a focus on life at home with soldiers shown leaving their families or singing "Silent Night" with a family that adopted them during Christmas.
"We really have tried to adhere to the truth - to present these people as they were in the middle of the 19th century ... blacks and whites, men and women, in their full humanity," said Ron Maxwell, the film's writer, producer and director. "This film will take you to where they lived."
Associate producer Dennis Frye said he believes the film will have a broad appeal.
Author Jeff Shaara, on whose novel the movie was based, said he was pleased with the adaptation of his book to film.
"The only pressure we really felt ... was to tell the truth. Do not cover up anything, do not pander to any kind of modern sensitivities," said Shaara, adding reactions so far have been encouraging.
"People are, first of all, surprised that something that comes out of Hollywood is not filled with political correctness. It's simply a historically accurate story."
Shaara, Maxwell and others stressed they researched characters and events at length. The movie made use of about 3,000 Civil War re-enactors and was shot entirely in Virginia, West Virginia and Maryland.
U.S. Sen. George Allen, R-Va., and other political leaders appear briefly as extras in the movie.
"It's a perfectly legitimate ploy," Maxwell said. "This is American - it's especially Virginian - history, and why not have a Virginia senator adding to the ambience."
Black actors portray slaves who contribute to the Confederacy's war effort but also make clear their desire to be free.
While "Gods and Generals" looks at the human side of the Civil War, no war movie would be complete without battle scenes, and this movie is no exception.
Lines of riflemen advance across exploding fields. The movie captures bloody bayonet thrusts and the boom of cannons. After the battle scenes, the fields are shown littered with the corpses of soldiers and horses.
The movie covers the first Battle of Manassas (or Bull Run), the Battle of Fredericksburg and other events between early 1861 and 1863. It is a prequel to the movie "Gettysburg," ending just before the historic battle.
"Gods and Generals," which runs about 3 1/2 hours, opens nationwide on Friday. Its world premiere on Feb. 10 was in Washington. It will also be shown in Richmond on Tuesday.
"I'm enjoying it thoroughly," Robertson said near the end of the premiere evening at VMI. "I think we have a hit on our hands."
Contact Victor Reklaitis at vreklaitis@registerbee.com or at (434) 793-2311, Ext. 3088.
In The Horse Soldiers, John Wayne's column is attacked by cadets of The Jefferson Military Academy, which is depicted as a military school in rural Mississippi, and a Confederate battery. The scene is played for laughs, and nobody gets hurt as the Union cavalry retires at speed rather than fight a formation of boys.
Interestingly, though, the headmaster of the academy, who leads the charge, is an ordained minister (Leonidas Polk was an Episcopal bishop) and carries a Bible into the fight as his sidearm.
Rotten Tomatoes: Gods & Generals reviews
So far with 10 reviews it has a perfect 0% rating on the Rotten Tomato-meter.
I particularly enjoyed the Village Voice's take: "jingoistic goat-spoor."
So far, the bile the Coasties are puking up is a hopeful sign. It's not that they hate the movie, it's what they hate about it that is so encouraging.
Several of the complaints seemed to center around portrayals of Victorian speech and manners. Maybe casting should have called in Will Smith and Eminem to help out with the demographic and the dialogue. What think?
I liked this review as telling:
"There is in fact much to relish in this epic but somehow, despite a nearly four-hour running time, there is something missing."
-- Stephen Jared, BOXOFFICE MAGAZINE
Yeah. What's missing is the neat denouement with the ribbon on top, and the action heroine slapping her boy-toy on the butt as they all exit stage left to go get a beer: It's Miller time!
Or maybe not, whaddayathink? Maybe the end of the Civil War left the country slap in the middle of Reconstruction, and things stayed really messy for a long time and, like, unresolved. Do ya think?
"Lang carves Jackson in flesh and blood, but in almost every other way, the 3-hour-and-35-minute ''Gods and Generals'' is a trial to sit through: stiff, ponderous, fluttering in its ''poetry,'' and crudely simplistic as an apologia for the Confederate ideology. A prequel to the 1993 ''Gettysburg,'' ''Gods and Generals,'' too, was executive-produced by Ted Turner, who backed it financially. It's fine for a film to recognize that there were noble men in the South, but when Jackson speaks of the need to defend his beloved Virginia against ''the triumph of commerce -- the banks, factories,'' the sentiment rings empty and more than a little ironic given that this is a $60 million film bankrolled by a billionaire." - Owen Glieberman, Entertainmnent Weekly
The big decision will be which Dixie Outfitters Robert E. Lee shirt to wear.
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