The period detail is impressive and clearly most effort went into its creation, and the actors make what they can of it, but it is far too long, not enough action and sickly sentimental. It did present the extent to which public figures at the time were motivated in their own conscious mind by religion, including generals, but given the fact that the South was fighting to maintain slavery, the message seemed confused. As someone said, just as you do not judge a person by what they think of themselves, you cannot judge an age by its consciousness. Jackson and others may have been convinced that God was on their side, but how exactly did they square that with support for a system that had already been abolished in the British Empire? The United States was the last but one country in the Western hemisphere to abolish slavery (Brazil being the last). Are we supposed to take their false moralizing at face value, or is this a satire? Hard to tell. It may be an effort to contrast Jackson's of his grief for the death of the little girl with his apparent enthusiasm for setting thousands of young men to kill each other, but if so, the scene with the girl and the family are far too long to make that point. Jackson appears to be a monster, but was that what the director intended? For all the effort, not half the film which Gettysburg was. Gettysburg concentrated more on the bravery of ordinary soldiers, and in some instances, their equivocal feelings, to better effect.
Review of Gods and Generals
Gods and Generals
(2003)
period detail, but overlong, sentimental, and unclear as to its message.
19 February 2010