Gods and Generals (2003, VHS)

I thought Gods and Generals was a good movie. That being said, It was nowhere near as good as Gettysburg which was released in 1993 and also directed by Ron Maxwell. Keep in mind I believe Gettysburg is among the best war movies ever made. I do not understand why the movie received such harsh ratings and reviews by the critics.

I'd like to discuss the historical accuracy of this movie. The movie doesn't run for fifteen minutes without something happening where you think, Oh yeah I remember reading that in some history book. I mean there are a hundred things that happen in the movie that are very true. There are also many things that are said in the movie that were said by those generals, word for word in many cases. In my opinion, the movie is extremely historically accurate! Therefore the movie, if for nothing else is good for being just that. Keep in mind that the movie was based on a fictional book written by a very knowledgeable civil war historian (Jeffrey M. Shaara) about a very factual war. It is because of this fact that his books are filled with lots and lots of facts.

Gods & Generals (2003)

Directed By Ronald F. Maxwell [Gettysburg & Joan of Arc]
Jell Daniels as Lt Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain [Gettysburg & Blood Work]
Stephen Lang as General "Stonewall" Jackson [Gettysburg]
Robert Duvall as General Robert E. Lee [Lonesome Dove]
Kevin Conway as Sergeant 'Buster' Kilrain [Gettysburg & Joan Of Arc]
Mira Sorvino as Fanny Chamberlain [Joan Of Arc]
Kali Rocha as Anna Jackson

Part I - Battle of Bull Run

Gods and Generals is the second part to a civil war trilogy. The first one was Gettysburg and the third and final movie will be, The Last Full Measure which will be released in 2005. Gods and Generals was a movie about the first part of the American Civil War. It starts out with Colonel Robert E. Lee respectfully refusing President Lincoln's offer to promote him to a (*two-star*) brigadier General and put him in charge of the Union Army of the Potomac. General Lee was a Virginian and that is all there was to it! Not only would he refuse to command the force that was being assembled to invade Virginia, He would defend his beloved state with his life if that is what it called for. Within the week Robert Lee was made the commander of the Army of Virginia. Now General Lee of the Confederate Army assembled his top generals that were some of the very best in the western hemisphere! There was Thomas Jackson, James Longstreet, George Pickett, Lewis Armistead, A.P. Hill, Jeb Stuart and many more awesome generals of that time all fighting for the Confederacy and mostly with Virginia regiments.


This is where the movie went astray. Instead of developing several of these generals the movie only develops one, General "Stonewall" Jackson. I have no idea why...General Jackson was Generals Lee's best offensive man by far. General James Longstreet very good on the defense. At any rate the movie gets very deep into Jackson s personal life. It depicts how very religious he was and how distraught he was over his former wife and baby daughters deaths. It seems like there is an awful lot of General Jackson praying in the movie. I believe they could have cut out about a half an hour of that and still made their point. Most people have no idea how very religious the southerners were back then. You will have some idea after seeing Gods and Generals that is for sure.

Eventually the battle of Bull Run kicks off. Many folks on both sides of the War Between the States believed that the war would be decided in one or two battles. People actually came out with their wives in fancy horse drawn buggies and picnic baskets to watch the battle of Bull Run. It was a huge success for the Confederacy. The Union was pushing the confederates back when General Jackson and his Virginians showed up. General Jackson was a great battlefield tactician as well as a fatalist. The Confederate troops from South Carolina had been routed and were running. General Jackson had his men in ranks just behind the crest of a hill. He kept his men there so they could not be seen. General Jackson just stood there on the hilltop oblivious to the routed troops running by him as well as a hail of lead and cannon balls in the air. He was waiting for the right moment for his troops to advance and surprise and overwhelm the Union troops. This is when General Bee shouted, There is Jackson standing like a stonewall", He was able to rally his men saying something like, "Rally behind the Virginians..." In no time at all it was the Union men who in a full running rout and they did not rally! Bull Run was a huge victory for the South, a real morale booster.

Part II - Fredericksburg

Fredericksburg was a bloody massacre that was horribly planned by General Burnside and approved by President Lincoln. The union built a pontoon bride across the river while under sniper fire. They lost a lot of men just doing this. After the pontoon bridge was complete General Burnside sent wave after wave after wave of union men to a certain death. The confederate cannons watched their every move. The Union troops had to cross a very large field and then assault Confederate troops that were behind a rock wall. It was a perfect defense! Therefore, Burnside lost many men at Fredericksburg and was relieved of command. The movie shows how that battle went very well, as always Maxwell was extremely accurate with his battle of Fredericksburg reenactment!

Part III The Wilderness / Chancellorsville

This is where the outcome of war would change. General Lee was always getting advised from Jackson. They had found that one of the Union flanks was wide open for an attack. Jackson didn't even have to be told what to do, he knew he must get to that flank and hit them immediately! He took all day and snuck his men through the woods with strict noise discipline. About two hours before nightfall he had his men in position and ready to pull a fantastic flanking maneuver! There was only one problem; he only had two hours of daylight left. The surprise attack of Jackson s entire corps coming out of the woods put the union army in a full running rout. General Jackson's attack was a success. Jackson did not know when to stop. He rode ahead of his men in the dark. After he realized that his men had done all they could do for the day he headed back.

Spoiler

While riding back towards his own lines General Jackson was shot several times by his troops. He was not killed on the spot. His aids were able to get him back to his surgeon. His wounds actually started to heal up when Jackson got pneumonia. General Jackson didn't make it through the episode.

Conclusion

Cons
One thing that I really enjoyed about Gettysburg is how the movie portrayed the views of both sides during the war. Gods and Generals didn't do nearly as much of the Union side as I had hoped. The movie was constantly on Stonewall Jackson. I believe it would have been better if Maxwell would have cut out most of the Stonewall prayer scenes and replaced them with scenes of Colonel Chamberlain and his Maine men. I must admit that I was expecting something more along the lines of Gettysburg. This was more of a biography of Thomas Stonewall Jackson.

Pros
It does a good job of starting out before the war and going all the way up to Gettysburg. I really enjoyed the battle scenes. I also thought it was neat how most of the cast came back to play their parts. I must say they played the parts well! What I liked most about Gods and General was how Maxwell is so meticulous in his historical accuracy! For example, there must be a hundred things said or done in the movie that were right on the money! I have a few friends that were re-enactors for the movie. For their help with making the movie 500,000.00 was donated to preserve civil war battlefields. I wish more movies were historically accurate. I say a job well done Ron Maxwell, sir. I am looking forward to the release of The Last Full Measure!

{Quotes from Gods and Generals}

General Lee: Though I love the Union, I love Virginia more.

General Lee: It is well that war is so terrible else we should grow too fond of it.

General Lee: General Jackson has lost his left arm, I have lost my right.

[Stonewalls last words]
General "Stonewall" Jackson: Let us cross over the river and rest under the shade of the trees.

Rated: PG-13
Run Time: 3 hours 45 minutes

Footnotes

Ted Turner put up the entire budget of some 60 million dollars for Gods and Generals. He also played a small part appearing as one of the Confederate generals.

Tom Berenger as well as Martin Sheen were asked to play the same characters as they portrayed in the movie Gettysburg. Both refused for whatever reasons.

Similar Movies

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If you are inclined here is another review of Gods and Generals wrote by a fellow civil war buff and author here at Epinions.
Ironcladd


Thanks for the read,
~Mac

2003 Joe McMaster