Some links before starting today. Norma had a
photoblog from Hong Kong.Yesterday having had been a Friday, Parsnip had a
Square Dog Friday post. And Eve is taking part in A-Z this April; you can find her posts
at her blog.
Now then, here is the second of my two movie reviews for Civil War films....
“Afterwards men in tall hats and gold watch fobs will thump
their chests and say what a brave charge it was. Devin, I’ve led a soldier’s
life, and I’ve never seen anything as brutally clear as this.” ~ John Buford
“Win was like a brother to me, remember? Towards the end of
the evening, things got a little rough. We both began to... well, there were a
lot of tears. I went over to Hancock. I took him by the shoulder, I said, Win, so help me, if I ever raise my hand
against you, may God strike me dead. Ain’t seen him since. He was at Malverne
Hill, White Oak Swamp, Sharpsburg, Fredericksburg... One of these days I will
see him, I’m afraid. Across that small, deadly space.” ~ Lewis Armistead
“Generals can do anything. There’s nothing so much like God
on earth as a general on a battlefield.” ~ Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain
“Soldiering has one great trap. To be a good soldier, you
must love the army. To be a good commander you must be willing to order the
death of the thing you love. We do not fear our own death, you and I. But there
comes a time... we are never prepared for so many to die. Oh, we do expect the
occasional empty chair, a salute to fallen comrades. But this war goes on and
on and the price gets ever higher.” ~ Robert E. Lee
"Lovely ground." ~ John Reynolds
"I thought so, sir." ~ John Buford
"Now, let's go surprise Harry Heth." ~ John Reynolds
"Up, men! And to your posts! And let no man forget today that you are from old Virginia!" ~ George Pickett
“Well, if he’s an angel, all right then, but he damned well
must be a killer angel.” ~ Buster Kilrain
“That’s Hancock out there. And he ain’t gonna run. So it’s
mathematical after all. If they get to that road, or beyond it, we’ll suffer
over fifty percent casualties. But Harrison... I don’t believe my boys will
reach that wall.” ~ James Longstreet
“There are times when a corps commander’s life does not
count.” ~ Winfield Scott Hancock
Michael Shaara’s classic novel The Killer Angels won the Pulitzer for fiction in 1975. It is my
favourite novel, and tells the story of the three-day Battle of Gettysburg
through the eyes of some of the commanders, both North and South. The novel was
adapted by director and scriptwriter Ronald F. Maxwell and released in 1993 as
the film Gettysburg, filmed on and
around the battlefield itself, involving a cast of thousands, including many
re-enactors who make a life’s hobby out of this sort of thing. The film follows
the novel closely, giving us the point of view of commanders on both sides in a
balanced way while conveying the ferocity of the greatest battle ever fought in
North America.
The film begins with a voiceover, showing the movements of
the Union and Confederate armies in late June 1863, as the Army of Northern
Virginia under Robert E. Lee (Martin Sheen) moves north into Maryland and
Pennsylvania, pursued by the Army of the Potomac, moving more quickly than
expected. The Confederate army have been used to victory time and again, while
the Union army has suffered losses and the incompetence of commanding generals.
This time, however, things are different- the Southern cavalry commander, Jeb
Stuart (Joseph Fuqua) is missing, off on one of his grand rides up north with
his cavalry, leaving the infantry blind in enemy country. This worries Lee’s
senior commander, James Longstreet (Tom Berenger), who has employed the use of
a civilian scout to determine the movements of the enemy.
The Union army, meanwhile, is moving quickly; command has
been given over to a new commander, George Meade (Richard Anderson). The
cavalry commander in the field is a brigadier general by the name of John
Buford (Sam Elliott), who brings his troops into Gettysburg the day before the
battle. He’s been scouting the movements of the Confederate army, and has
learned they’re turning south, perhaps to threaten Washington. Buford
understands the value of the ground south of the small town, the best high
ground around, and makes the fateful decision to stand his ground, summoning
the infantry to come up quickly and take control of the high ground before the
rebels can take it. Two senior corps commanders, John Reynolds (John Rothman)
and Winfield Scott Hancock (Brian Mallon) know him well enough to take him
seriously, and promise to have the army up in the morning.
Coming with that army of Union troops is an unlikely
officer, a colonel with his own regiment from Maine. Joshua Lawrence
Chamberlain (Jeff Daniels) is a professor who’s joined the war effort, a
scholar and a man of principle who happens to be very good at the life of a
soldier, an effective commander. His brother Tom (C. Thomas Howell) is a junior
officer in the regiment, and tends to call Chamberlain by his first name. One
of the senior enlisted men, Buster Kilrain (Kevin Conway) is a wise, gruff
Irishman who’s been in the army most of his adult life, something of a father
figure to the scholarly colonel. Their regiment is brought up along with the
rest of the army, where they will meet destiny on the second day of the battle.
There had been efforts for years to adapt the book for the
screen, either television or movies, but it was Maxwell who brought the film to
the big screen. He received the backing of Ted Turner, who has a cameo as a
Confederate officer during the climactic and ill fated Pickett’s Charge. Turner
loved the novel too, and wanted to see it made. The National Parks Service
allowed filming and battle re-enactment to be done on the battlefield itself,
which gives the film a higher authenticity, particularly since places like
Devil’s Den and Little Round Top had never seen this done. It is a long film-
over four hours- but the material demanded that length. And the use of
re-enactors, who know the story so well, allowed for a smoother filming
process. Maxwell wrote the script, which closely adapts the novel, and which in
turn paid heed to the history of the battle. Shaara noted at the time that
while inner thoughts and some dialogue were his own interpretation, his
foundation was on fact, and certainly his interpretation of the people on the
page, and how they came to life on screen certainly rings true to who they
were.
Maxwell’s direction throughout is sterling. He captures the
ferocity of that war perfectly through the battle sequences, particularly the
desperate fighting on Little Round Top on the second day, when the entire Union
left flank is in danger, but also the cataclysm of the third day’s Pickett’s
Charge. We feel the movement of vast forces of soldiers on the battlefield in
how Maxwell’s camera team works, but then quickly find ourselves among
regiments and get the close-up view in the midst of battle. The story gives
balance to both sides- enough time is given to both perspectives, even though
we know in our day that one side is wrong. It doesn’t romanticize the Old South
in the infuriating way that Gone With The
Wind did. And Maxwell even preserves a bit of Shaara’s humour in the story,
mostly at the expense of one of Longstreet’s division commanders, George
Pickett (Stephen Lang), a not that terribly bright but quite affable officer
whose name will forever after be attached to the turning point of the Civil
War. His three brigade commanders like to poke fun at his not so stellar
academic record or his dim view of science.
Filming on place allowed for great authenticity, and that is
much the same for the costuming and prop people. Many of the re-enactors would
of course bring their own uniforms and gear for the project, but for those
members of the cast who were featured players, their uniforms look very much of
the era. This applies to makeup as well- most of the men (with a couple of
minor cameos, this is an all male cast) have facial hair, some enough to house
bird nests, but fitting for the time, and authentic to the men they are
portraying. The music comes from Randy Edelman, and remains one of my favourite
scores, emphasizing character moments at quiet interludes in the film, but also
ferocious, desperate, and grand when accompanying the fury of battle.
The cast is huge. Many of the roles are cameos; documentary
director Ken Burns, for instance, plays a Union staff officer during the
cannonade on Cemetery Ridge preceding Pickett’s Charge. George Lazenby, a
one-time James Bond, turns up as a Confederate division commander, Johnston
Pettigrew, one of the other division commanders involved in Pickett’s Charge.
Morgan Sheppard, an ancient looking actor with a huge resume of character roles
(you’ve seen this actor in at least something), plays the third division
commander of that charge. He’s a gruff staff officer when we first meet him,
disgusted by the ineffectiveness of another corps commander, and placed into a
vital position by Lee, who needs to fill a hole. Anderson’s appearance as
General Meade is a brief one- he only appears once in the film as the
commanding general, but that fits the story and the history, since Meade wasn’t
that much of a factor in the battle. Donal Logue has more than a cameo,
appearing frequently through the first half of the film- though he’s
unrecognizable under facial hair- as Major Ellis Spear, Chamberlain’s capable
and serious senior subordinate. John Rothman appears briefly as the ill fated General John Reynolds, playing the role as the man must have been: a superb commander, completely calm in the face of battle.
C. Thomas Howell plays the younger Chamberlain with a
certain naive quality that works. Tom is the brother who always looked up to
his older brother, joined the military because that’s what his brother was
doing, and seems oblivious at times to military protocol, particularly his
tendency to forget to address his brother by rank. He’s been in the army for
awhile, has seen a lot, and yet that boyish naivety is still there. Kevin
Conway, a character actor who’s been in multiple roles in the movies and
television for years, gets one of the best parts as Kilrain. He’s a career soldier,
the sort of senior enlisted man who make up the backbone of military services.
And he’s gruff and disgusted by the foolishness of high command, something one
might expect out of such a soldier. Yet he also does his duty, and is
surprisingly thoughtful and wise. A conversation along the way with Chamberlain
shows the father-son relationship between the two, and Kilrain’s principles as
a person. He believes that only a fool judges people by the group or race- that
you take people one at a time. It’s such a good role, and Conway makes it so
memorable.
Brian Mallon gets the most screen time of the senior corps
commanders in the Union Army as General Hancock. The real man was one of the
finest officers in the army, a tough, tenacious, exceptional officer, and
Mallon plays those qualities in his performance. Hancock is a commander who’s a
natural leader, an inspiration to those around him, and calm under pressure.
Mallon conveys that, but also shows the other side of the man, the humanity of
Hancock, and a melancholy over an old friend who’s fighting on the Confederate
side.
That friend, as it turns out, is Lewis Armistead (Richard
Jordan), a brigade commander under Pickett, who, as fate would have it, is
facing Hancock’s lines on the third day of battle. Both men become aware of
each other being across the empty space between the lines, and both aware this
means these two best friends will be fighting each other. It’s a twist that
weighs heavily on them both, and we see that particularly in Jordan’s
performance. It is the most poignant role in the film- we like Armistead
tremendously; there’s a great warmth in the character. He has a sense of
humour, but there’s also tragedy to him; he expresses that to his old friend
Longstreet, particularly in a explaining about a vow he made the last time he
saw Hancock. And now fate has brought him to fight Hancock head on. The
performance is made all the more poignant by the fact that this was Jordan’s
final performance; he died soon after filming was wrapped, and the film is
dedicated to the memory of Jordan and Shaara.
Stephen Lang has spent years playing various character
roles, often villains, but this is my favourite role by the actor. He plays
Pickett just as you’d expect the real man to be. Pickett’s not a bright guy- he
finished dead last in his class at West Point- but he’s capable and reliable,
able to follow through on orders. He also seems to be good company, cheerfully
taking jokes at his own expense, even instigating some of them, a boyish sort
of fellow engaged to a woman half his age. Pickett is a jovial officer- and so
the ill-fated charge that bears his name leaves him utterly shattered. When we
last see him, he’s a broken man, and Lang conveys all of those qualities in his
performance.
This is one of my favourite roles for Sam Elliott. John
Buford was fated to die later in 1863, and for many years was a forgotten
figure in the Civil War. It was perhaps the benefit of Shaara’s novel that
started to give him serious attention and credit again. A bright man with a
gift for topography and the best use of the land for military purposes, it was
Buford’s decision to fight at Gettysburg and his stubborn fight on the first
day that allowed the Union infantry to come up and occupy the high ground. In
doing so, Buford saved the battle and perhaps the war. Elliott conveys the
tenacious nature of the man, his frustrations at commanders, and his tough,
capable, and steady character. Buford is a man who can see what’s to come; his
prediction of the battle to one of his brigade commanders is chillingly
accurate, at least for the losing side.
Martin Sheen is given the role of General Lee, and he plays
the role well. Looking at history, one is struck with the dignity of Lee, his
intelligence, and his skill as an officer. These are qualities that Sheen
brings across throughout the film. He’s still a torn man; he remembers that he
once took a vow as an officer in the Union army, and that he served with many
of the men fighting against him. And yet he believes his duty first and foremost
is to his home state. He’s also an officer with great empathy for his men; he
says that a good commander must love the army, but also be willing to order the
death of that which he loves. It’s a great contradiction, but it fits in
perfectly with the character of the man. Another element that resonates is his
anger- it’s a quality Lee tries to keep harnessed, but it shows itself in a
late night meeting with Stuart, whose absence until the battle has started has
leaved the general deeply disappointed. The anger he expresses to Stuart is
effective in the moment- a mark of a man who could be very dangerous when
riled. Sheen takes all of these into account with his performance, and it rates
as one of his finest roles.
Tom Berenger also inhabits the role of Longstreet just as
you’d expect the man to be. Longstreet was a military genius, devising systems
of trench warfare decades before its time. He was a methodical, defensive
commander of great skill, an effective general who’d advanced to his position
based on his own talent. He was also a man of gloom and frustration, with a
tragic past, suffering multiple personal losses during the War. Berenger plays
Longstreet with gravity and force, a man of strength. He knows what’s coming-
he tries to argue with Lee about moving the army away from the field and
threatening Washington directly- but to no avail. And Berenger’s Longstreet
feels the loss of what happens, the responsibility for it all, very heavily.
Jeff Daniels gives his best performance as Chamberlain. The fighting
professor from Maine was the sort of person who could master any subject before
him, and he certainly excelled at military life, ending up as one of the most
extraordinary soldiers of the war. He’s a man of scholarly knowledge and deeply
held principles, a man who believes in the cause he is fighting for. Daniels
brings those qualities to the role, and also comes across as a highly capable
leader, trusted by his men, someone whose ability to speak can be persuasive.
He also shows the ingenuity and resourcefulness of Chamberlain, whose last
minute use of a textbook tactic saves the second day and the Union army on
Little Round Top.
Gettysburg is one
of my favourite films, if not my favourite. The tale of the pivotal battle of a
terrible war captures the immediacy of battle, the desperate odds on both
sides, and the ferocious nature of that war. It also gives the viewer
outstanding performances all around, bringing figures from the past back to
life in rich and deep ways. It is, quite simply, a magnificent achievement in
film.
