It’s been an interesting week. I don’t believe I’ve ever
written as much for personal reasons, only in cases for school or work. Nor do
I believe I’ve ever written about something as personal before without a clue
as to if it would be read by anyone. If you have followed this blog for the
past week and been amused, bemused, or at least a bit interested, then thank
you for reading it. It’s been a bit of an experience.
Gettysburg
(1993)
When I set out to write this week’s blog postings, I
started with this one. Shortly after starting this blog I decided to write a
review of my favorite film and have it posted around the time of the
anniversary of the battle. This year marks the 149th year since that horrific
battle which claimed the lives of more Americans than fell in all the years of
the Vietnam War. July 1st through July 3rd 1863 was pivotal in the history of
the United States. It was the time when our country came into its own, and
became, for good and for bad, the country that exists today.
The film Gettysburg is based on the award winning novel
written by Michael Shaara. It is a narrative of the battle as seen through the
eyes many of the field commanders and several of the soldiers. It is a
portrayal of the battle itself, but it also dives into the motivations of each
of the battles many participants, and attempts to examine why and how they came
together for those three days.
Primary told through the experiences of General Robert E.
Lee (CSA), General James Longstreet (CSA), and Colonel Joshua Lawrence
Chamberlain (USA), the viewer is taken through many of the battles pivotal
moments, and we see how circumstances, faith, and ego came into play to
ultimately determine the outcome.
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| Harrison the Scout |
The film opens on a lone Confederate Scout who is tasked
with determining the movements of the Union Army as it chases the Confederate
Army through the state of Pennsylvania. The Confederates have invaded to force
a major action that will force the Union Army to suffer many losses. This would
give the Confederate States the pretense to sue for peace and form their own
country. The scout reports the movements of Union Calvary under the command of
General John Buford who have moved into the town of Gettysburg, a small
junction that seems to be in the center of everything.
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| General John Buford played by Sam Elliott |
The Confederates attack Buford’s Calvary the morning of
July 1st but fail to break the lines. Buford is then reinforced by Union
infantry under John Reynolds. The Confederates move forward from all directions
and are able to push back the Union Army to the ridges and hills South of
Gettysburg. Reynolds himself is killed on the first day, and while the
Confederates seem to have won, they, in fact, have been placed at a
disadvantage.
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| Jeff Danials as Colonial Chamberlin |
The Union Army digs in for a major action on the hills and
is reinforced heavily. Lee, placing too much faith in the ability of his men to
succeed, orders a full charge up into the hills on July 2nd. It is here, on the
extreme edge of the Union lines that the 20th Maine Regiment under the command
of Colonel Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain is able to stop the Confederate advance.
After repelling attack after attack from the Confederates, and despite running
dangerously low on ammunition, Chamberlain orders a bayonet charge which
completely surprises the Confederates and stops the advance.
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| Tom Berenger as James Longstreet and Martin Sheen as Robert E. Lee |
By July 3rd, Lee realizes that he is stuck between a rock
and a hard place. If he withdraws, his army would have fought for two days at
the cost of many lives and achieved nothing. If he attacks, he could risk
losing everything. With an entire lifetime of experience working against him,
he orders the only thing he thought he could, a major charge on the center of
the Union lines.
This charge proves to be completely futile and the
Confederates are soundly defeated. They move their way back to the south living
to fight until April of 1865 when the war is finally ended.
As a film, Gettysburg focuses less on the horrific sights
of battle, and instead attempts to really get to the heart of the conflict and
understand what drove the soldiers, commanders, and the people of this country
to resolve their differences in the most horrific way possible. By killing each other. This is, in my belief its
greatest asset. War films these days tend to focus primarily on the horrible
sights of war (people being blown to bits, the bloody mess and shear carnage of
battle) and I believe that many times, this is necessary in order to get the
feel right. But sometimes, I think that films focus on that at the expense of
trying to make sense of the driving forces behind the battle.
If one is to truly understand how our forefathers (and
mothers) came to believe that the only rational course of action was to kill
each other, they need to really get to the heart of the conflict and listen to
all the factors that played roles, instead of only those stories that reinforce pre-conceived notions.
Gettysburg tells all sides of the story. We know, of
course, why some in the Union Army joined up. Many individuals could not fathom
that States could simply quit the Union if they were so inclined, and wanted to
preserve the country that their fathers shed blood for. Many, like Chamberlain,
joined up to free the slaves of the South. They couldn’t believe that in a
rational and educated society, how something as barbaric as slavery could
possibly exist.
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| Kevin Conway as Buster Kilrain |
And yet others had their own reasons. The film showcases
the fictional character of Buster Kilrain who, having fled the class wars of
Ireland in his youth, fights to end the idea of class warfare. When Chamberlain
asks him what he thinks about the black slaves, He says one of my favorite
lines in this film by simply stating;
“Well, if you mean the race, I really don’t know. This is
not a thing to be ashamed of. You see, Colonel, you cannot judge a race. Any
man who judges by the group is a peewit. You take men, one at a time.”
It’s one of the most poignant moments in a film full of
them.
The Confederates also get the chance to tell their side of
the story, and in doing so, we find that their motivations, though grossly
misguided, were based more on their allegiance to their homes themselves rather
than to their country. They followed a truly American belief that a man’s home
is his castle, and fought to preserve that castle.
This is best exemplified by some captured Confederates,
when questioned by a Union soldier as to why they were fighting.
“We’re fighting for our rats [rights]. Why can’t you people
just the way you want, and let us live the way we do? Live and let live I heard
some folks say. It might not such a fuss or bother if more people took it to
heart.”
When you consider that the majority of the soldiers in the
Confederate Army and many of the generals didn’t own slaves and still fought,
you have to open your mind and really try to understand why. That doesn't mean they were right, but if one is to make sense of something as horrific as the Civil War, they need to really get to the heart of the driving forces behind it.
My favorite moments, though, feature the Confederate General
Lewis Armistead. Commanding a brigade under General George Pickett, he is torn
because he finds his lifelong friend, a friendship tested in battle and
peacetime, Winfield Scott Hancock, on the opposite side of the battle.
Armistead was like a brother to Hancock and was quite taken by him and his
wife, Almira.
It’s futile to try to explain it to people who only view
such companionship through the prism of modern day sensibilities, but it
existed. Armistead is a solider, through and through, and though he would never
consider killing his dear friend, he knows his first duty is to his home. He
leads his brigade into battle on the third day and makes it closer than any
other commander. It is here, that he is struck down by a shot, and to his great
dismay, finds that Hancock has fallen as well. Armistead would go on to die
several days later from complications from his wounds.
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| Armisteads death is even more poignant when you consider that the actor who played him, Richard Jordan died from a brain tumor shortly after filming. |
There was much more to the story than the movie portrays.
Many key moments are left out, as well as an explanation that General Grant, on
the same day as the battle, proved successful at the Battle of Vicksburg thus
cutting the Confederate States in two. The two battles provided the key turning
point of the conflict and the country would be changed forever. It is not a
perfect film by any standards, including my own. But I have never seen a film
that really explained why an event such as the Civil War could have been fought
in the first place or how each participant came to believe in their
righteousness of their cause. Justice, honor, truth, and bravery have never
been made as clear, and when you are forced to view the motivation of your
enemy through their eyes, you might find them to be just like yourself.
Given many of the issues we face daily, it’s a lesson that
I wish more people would take to heart.
