...as a former reenactor who garbed both Union and Confederate (rebel rags were a once and done deal with me) in 'Gettysburg', I can be expected to cut this film some slack. And it is true that I fervently wish to do so, and yet...I was hoping some of the problems that I feel hurt 'Gettysburg' (changing the title of the novel was one of them)had been corrected, but from reading some of these scathing reviews I'm thinking they might have gotten worse instead. Apparently the powers that be failed to appreciate that however purple the prose of the 1860's may have been, even on a battlefield, when portrayed on a modern silver screen and mouthed by modern actors, these orations decline into silliness. There were some real lulu's in 'Gettysburg', with the actor looking earnestly into the camera and talking to us the audience...great for a documentary, asinine for a feature film. On a more prosaic level, I hope the little details, like the ersatz facial hair and vocal accents are at least muted somewhat. I don't think I could abide Tom Berenger's beard or Thomas Howell's muttonchops for 200 some odd minutes...speaking of which, it's not often that a movie runs almost as long as it takes me to finish a marathon. And I am praying, almost as hard as Stonewall himself, that the more, ahem, portly reenactors are sent to the rear for the critical scenes. It was an experience in the fence climbing scenes with some of those lardbutts on either side of me... As for perspective, I'm not going to complain if the Union gets short shrift, insamuch as today's youths think that the Stars&Bars represent skinheads and Klansmen instead of young men thrown into a terrible conflict, to die and become mutilated, who in most cases had no vested interest in the continuation of slavery...our current crop of students and even more so their educators are sorely wanting in the breadth of their historic sightlines. Let the Southrons have their day...or lat least, their couple of hours.
Review of Gods and Generals
