Gods and Generals

Rating:
Summary: Don't listen to those 'nay sayers!'
Review: This is a Pro-Confederate, Pro-Religion movie basd on documented facts. It is NOT PC! The 'professional critic' panned it for those very reasons - reasons why you, the viewer should, at the very least, SEE this movie, if not OWN it! It is not all 'blood and guts' battlescenes. It deals with the very essence of humanity and how it was affected by the War Between The States. I will not repeat what other positive reviewers have had to say - just read their reviews, see the movie, and make up your own mind about "Gods And Generals."

Rating:
Summary: COOL FILM!
Review: This is one of the absolute best war movies ever made. It's almost as good as Gettysburg. It beats Gone with the Wind by far! I think it will even be better on DVD!!

Rating:
Summary: outstanding
Review: I went with my father to see this film three times. I liked stephen langs performance as stonewall jackson. The battle scenes were magnificent.I wish i could see this movie again on the big screen.

Rating:
Summary: A STORY OF IDEALS AND LOYALITY
Review: The movie "God and Generals" was a wonderful movie and I would recomend it completly. BUT it is for a certain type of viewer. You really have to appricate the Civil War to like this movie. It is long, true but it is good if you can sit down and watch it. I appricate the book "The Killer Angels" and I think that "Gettysburg" was also a great movie. All the books written by the Sharras are very well done and the movies capture the important themes of theses great American novels. I think that people need to look past the length of the movie and see the real themes that lie within. Truly a great movie and great to watch if you enjoy history.

Rating:
Summary: Make your own choice
Review: Watch for it on cable since it will be broadcast soon. Then make your own choice as to whether you need this DVD in your house or not. You'll be glad you waited.

Rating:
Summary: Gods and Generals
Review: This is one earth-shattering film. Unlike others in the last 30 years of dealing with the subject of the War for Southern Independence, this one treats the subject evenly, and is extremely historically accurate. Characters like "Stonewall" Jackson, his wife, and Jim are complex, passionate human beings, not just historical figures pasted on the screen. The Calvinistic faith that guided Jackson's every breath is REAL, not just given lip service. There is no PC view of history here. Jackson and Lee were both Christian men who believe slavery was not for the betterment of man, and wished to see it ended. This is told, as are the war crimes committed by Union forces invading the South. What will be lost on all but the most astute historians is the parallel between Lincoln and Caesar. Both men ended the Republics that established their countries, a soft point only the better historians will know. The film also shows clearly that racism was not limited, by any means, to the areas south of the Mason-Dixon.

As a film, it is simply incredible. Stephen Lang gives an absolutely wonderful performance, rivaling that of George C. Scott as Patton so many years ago. He should win the Oscar for best actor hands down, but in ultra-liberal Hollywood, it'll never happen. Jeff Daniels is also very good, as is Robert Duvall, who looks amazingly like Lee.

To some, the battle scenes may seem somewhat drawn out, but I don't feel that way at all. The wonderful thing about these scenes is that it becomes clear how truly horrible war is, without the excessive bloodiness of moves like "Saving Private Ryan".

The music is absolutley wonderful. The haunting opening song alone will bring tears to your eyes.

For many of us, this is more than a wonderful film. For us, for a few hours at least, we are given our country back.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent movie!!!!
Review: Very true to the people and the time period. The reenactors, with their knowledge and dedicaton, are the core of the movie and really help to authenticate the battle scenes. Stephen Lang is incredible in his portrayal of General Stonewall Jackson - he is Jackson. Definite Oscar material! The soundtrack is haunting, appropriate, and a true asset to the movie. Mary Fahl's song, Going Home, which opens the movie, is heartbreaking but beautiful. Yes, the movie was long, but I loved it so much that I didn't want it to end. I can't wait for the 6 hour DVD!!

Rating:
Summary: Not A Noble Cause ...
Review: "Gods And Generals" is a very good movie in only one respect- the battle scenes were very well done. However, it would have been a much better film if Ted Turner had just stuck to history and laid off the "damn yankees" attitude reminiscent of "Gone With The Wind". Previously, in "Gettysburg", Turner was able to temper his pro-southern passion with fairness to both the North and South, and it was very balanced in that regard. But in "Gods And Generals", Turner came out with all guns blasting and turned what should have been a great film into a lot of Yankee bashing. History is history and nothing can change it, but Turner must realize that the South was fighting to preserve slavery and that was nothing to glorify. My own southern ancestors owned slaves but that didn't make it right.
The authenticity in the uniforms and battle scenes was rather impressive but I wish more time was spent on the Battle of Chancellorsville. But instead of battle scenes, the death of Stonewall Jackson was the main focus and his death was portrayed as that of a saint. Jackson was a brilliant general but was not a saint. The scene made me sick.
Also, the film focused on three Southern victories, the Battles of First Bull Run, Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville. Conveniently left out was the Union victory at Antietam, which should have been shown between Bull Run and Fredericksburg. So much for balance and fairness.
Cut out the ... and watch the battle scenes and you have a good film. But come on Mr. Turner. Stick to the business world and lay off the movie production business.

Rating:
Summary: Too bad the film begins in 1861
Review: Gods and Generals is arguably the first major film to treat our Civil War in both depth and breadth and not veer into political correctness. As reviewer Lynn Hopewell aptly describes, those participating had a broad variety of convictions and motives. Previous fictional (e.g., Glory) and documentary (e.g., Ken Burns' The Civil War) treatments hew to the tired old line that slavery was either the only cause for the War or the only one of consequence (it certainly became the major Northern motive later).

This war's cause was no more about slavery than WW II was about saving the Jews from the Holocaust or the recent Iraq war was about weapons of mass destruction. Current events are instructive in the way leaders often seek to recast events and decisions in their best light and distance themselves from unsupportable things they said prior to a conflict.

If the film had even briefly covered the decades leading up to the Rebellion (as it was known in those times) it could have more clearly revealed how both sides were manipulated into the conflict by their extreme elements:
- rich Northern businessmen sought to protect their uncompetitive manufacturing from European imports with heavy tariffs which fell disproportionately on the South.
- Republican leaders focused on wiping out states rights and strengthening the Federal government in order to build an American empire and reward their wealthy constituents through massive political patronage
- Northern abolitionists (a minority within the Republican Party), and
- wealthy Southern plantation owners fearing future restrictions on the future of slavery.

Suggsted reading:
DiLorenzo - The Real Lincoln
Adams - When in the Course of Human Events
Freehling - The Road to Disunion: Session at Bay 1776 - 1854

Rating:
Summary: Overall excellent!
Review: For anyone who is a follower of the trilogy, it is obvious that the film has some faults. When comparing The Killer Angels and its theatrical version, Gettysburg, the movie is essentially based on the novel alone. This is not true for Gods and Generals. Vital parts of the book are omitted or significantly changed in the movie. Also, the movie wastes time by focusing on several things that aren't in the novel, such as the family in Fredericksburg and the punishment of the deserters. The movie could have been so much better had those extras been left out and if the novel had been followed more thoroughly. Doing so wouldn't have affected the length that much. Besides, Maxwell and the others must remember that their first priority is following the book, not trying to make a Hollywood thriller. I thought that the devotion to details that existed while making Gettysburg was supposed to still be there. I hope that this is rectified in The Last Full Measure. On the positive note, the battle sequences are even better than in Gettysburg. All in all, a must see for any follower of the trilogy or anyone who is just a Civil War buff.