Wick's Review

Summary - Very Good 3.5

The battles of 1st Bull Run, Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville get brought to terribly glorious life in this opening salvo of a planned Civil War trilogy. Funded by a son of the South, Gods and Generals focuses on sympathetic Confederate heroes Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee. It could just as well be titled “The Stonewall Jackson Story,” notwithstanding Union hero Joshua Chamberlain’s significant play.

Stars and Bars hagiography notwithstanding, G&G proves noble to both sides even if it does little more than nod to the unfathomable predicament of the slaves. As a purely military matter, the opening half of the Civil War did go the Confederacy’s way, so the movie more or less hews to the maxim that history is written by the victors. Things turned decisively when Lee charged into Pennsylvania, so let’s see how episode two of the trilogy – Gettysburg – handles the blessed Union victory in this most just of wars.

Ted Turner deserves our thanks for funding G&G after funding Gettysburg years before. (Presumably he’s on the hook for the planned third movie in the trilogy, though Ted ain’t got the wallet he once did.) So what if he signed off on the Confederate Army’s notably sympathetic treatment and monopolized screentime. I chose to receive it as an appeal to the better angels of our nature, a latter-day act of binding up the nation’s wounds. One senses Lincoln would approve.

Sure it’s history incarnate, but is it worth 3.5 hours? Absolutely, if you’re a history buff with an appreciation for military minutiae. For guys like us, it’s riveting and terribly, terribly glorious.

Acting - Very Good 3.5

The entire cast – esteemed though they are – labors with the formalism and weightiness of their lines.

Robert Duvall as Robert E. Lee. ’Nuff said. Well maybe not enough: Duvall is a descendant of Lee.

Stephen Lang gets the most screen time as General Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson. Rocking an impressive beard, Lang plays Jackson as a deeply spiritual man and an oddly brilliant military leader.

Jeff Daniels represents the Union as Col. Joshua Chamberlain, professor turned military hero. Daniels always had the ability to play strong, thoughtful characters, as he reminds here.

Most of the other named actors fly by in period dress and whiskers. (American men sure sported some mighty impressive facial hair in the mid 19th Century.) Beyond them the countless soldiers on both sides of the battle-lines are Civil War reenactors. What a thrill for them!

And who was that grinning Rebel Colonel sitting ‘round the campfire with the legendary Confederate Generals? Why, that’s Ted Turner of Atlanta, Georgia. What a good ol’ boy that Ted is.

Film - Very Good 3.5

Plato wrote about the need for philosopher kings. Gods and Generals gives us philosopher generals: Stonewall Jackson, possessed by a fierce Christian philosophy; Robert E. Lee, as close to a philosopher king as America is ever likely to produce; Joshua Chamberlain, a Professor of Modern Languages at Bowdoin College who also studied theology for three years.

The dialog they speak comes across as stiff however. This may be true to life or it may be due to the constant need to advance the momentous storyline. At least that would explain the fact that half the lines are exposition. And when not delivering exposition, they often cite verse to one another. As interpersonal drama it lacks; As history it rocks.

Edge - Risqué 2.0

Civil War violence and medical treatment was unprecedented in its cruelty, a fact well shown here.

Reality - Natural 1.0

The early industrial warfare techniques were amazingly brutal, caught between the gunpowder era and the modern one. For instance, battles were largely fought with muzzle-loaded muskets, even if officers carried Colt revolvers. Fighting uniformly occurred at close range, with bayonet charges a cutting edge technique, no pun intended.

2 Comments

• BrianSez Jun 26, 2010 7:56AM

  Regarding BrianSez’s Review
  Oh yes you should, and if you haven’t seen Gettysburg yet, just add that to your queue alongside G&G for a weekend Civil War marathon! lol I can’t believe Burnside even bothered going through the punishment of the river crossing, never mind facing Longstreet and Jackson up that hill…

• Wick Jun 25, 2010 11:29PM

  Regarding BrianSez’s Review
  Great review, Bri. “The generals spoke as if they were reading from the bible itself.” Good one.

  I’m with you on the Civil War fascination. I got a chance to walk the Fredricksburg battlefield a couple of years ago: along the sunken road and up Marye’s Heights. Burnside’s Union troops didn’t stand a chance.

  Gotta take your recommendation and see this movie. Lang and Duvall as Stonewall Jackson and Robert E. Lee. That’s just this side of Mount Rushmore stuff.

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