Synopsis
Based on Michael Shaara’s Pulitzer-Prize-winning book, “The Killer Angels.” Gettysburg plunges the viewer into the bloodiest battle fought on American soil. History comes alive with intense and spirited battles and the dilemmas, motivations and fears of the leaders. Tom Berenger (Inception), Jeff Daniels, Martin Sheen (TV’s “West Wing”) and Stephen Lang.
The one formula that works quite well when it comes to making films about war is containing a battle. Director Ron Maxwell does a fantastic job with containing the single battle of Gettysburg. He uses the 261-minutes of film to focus on this one single, bloody moment in American history and divides that moment into smaller stories. Each story gives a fair amount of time to each side of the line (Union/Confederates) and makes the individuals involved in the war seem a lot more human than most history books tell us. That’s what impressed me the most with Gettysburg, as it gives some honesty to the situation.
Growing up we had always been told that the evil Confederate army was simply fighting over keeping slavery from being abolished. The history books that we were fed gave us a notion that these individuals were determined to fight and wanted nothing to do with the Union. While slavery was certainly at stake on their side there was a lot more at stake in terms of personal beliefs and freedoms; even though most people don’t agree with such things. Maxwell does a great job with explaining a bit more about why the Confederates did what they felt they had to do. He also adds a bit more ‘personal stake’ into the battle by constantly reminding the viewer, through his characters, that the Confederates and the Union knew each other well (both personally and professionally). He drove home the fact that friends were fighting friends, which was heartbreaking in a sense.
None of this could have been possible though without the actors involved. Jeff Daniels surprised me the most with his very liberally viewed take on Colonel Chamberlain. His character was neat and bold to watch on and off the battlefield. Equal to his character was Tom Berenger’s Lt. General James Longstreet. Berenger has the knack for bringing bigger than life characters down to the ground and this was no different. His power struggle with Martin Sheen’s General Robert E. Lee was fun to watch, and sad sometimes (especially at the end). Finally, Martin Sheen did a wonderful job as the ‘never give up’ General Robert E. Lee. He did a spectacular job showing the world why most military folk consider Lee one of the best strategist in war. Without these guys this movie doesn’t work.
So are there any issues with this film? Well, I felt like Maxwell was a bit long in the tooth in some parts. When the final push by the Confederates is led the battle takes forever. I’m completely all for giving the viewer the full experience, but I could have sworn there were some repeating shots in this final moment. It might not have seemed so long had we not just come from Chamberlain’s men holding their grown against waves and waves of Confederates. Chamberlain’s sequence was pivotal and necessary. The final battle in the film should have been cut short just a little.
Anyway, at the end of the day Gettysburg is one of the better films in regards to the Civil War. It is very contained, gives a great view from both sides and does the bloodiest battle on American soil its due justice.
On the Blu-ray side of things I have to admit that I wasn’t terribly impressed. While most Warner Home Video titles like this look really sharp with virtually no grain or artifacts, I found the film to be a little bit grainy. There are moments, mostly during the night scenes, where there is little to no grain in the shot, but as soon as the daytime hits it gets a bit visually brutal. For example, when Jeff Daniels’ Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain is talking to the men from Maine for the first time (who won’t fight) you can see artifacts in the misty, cloudy cover that they are under. With that said, is this release better than the DVD version? Yes. It’s still a lot cleaner to look at than its analog brother. At the end of the day I’ve seen better looking Blu-ray that come from older film stock. The audio is damn good, though.
The special features on this Blu-ray/DVD booklet include the following:
• Commentary by Ronald F. Maxwell, Kees Van Oostrum, James M. McPherson, and Craig Symonds
• The Making of Gettysburg, Narrated by Martin Sheen
• The Battle of Gettysburg, Narrated by Leslie Nielson
• On Location
• Maps of the Battlefield
• Ron Maxwell’s Invitation to Take the Journey Through Hallowed Ground (NEW)
The features are darn good, especially if you’re a history buff. The commentary by Maxwell and crew is very interesting to listen to. The making of and battle of featurettes on Gettysburg is stuff that should be in classrooms. And the new feature with Maxwell is quite impressive. The entire package of features does justice to the movie, though they reside on DVD. This type of release would be superb for a classroom environment. For people who love the film they’ll be satisfied. For me, I wish there were a few HD featurettes scattered in the mix. An HD tour of Gettysburg would have been beyond fantastic. In addition to the features you also get a very nice booklet that gives you more information on the production as well as a cool timeline of the entire Civil War.
Gods and Generals Extended Director’s Cut & Gettysburg Director’s Cut arrive on Blu-ray May 24, just in time for the commemoration of the 150th Anniversary of the American Civil War.