Film/Television Review: Gettysburg (1993)

Roman historian Tacitus in 2nd Century keenly observed that civil wars tended to be much bloodier and more destructive than regular wars between two separate political entities. Subsequent centuries gave plenty of argument for such claim, including the history of United States. The bloodiest war involving that nation was between Americans themselves, fought on American soil. As such, it left the indelible mark on American culture, including countless feature films. The event which is often considered to be the most decisive in that conflict, however, was usually ignored by film makers, at least until 1993 when the audience got opportunity to watch Gettsyburg, war epic written and directed by Ronald F. Maxwell.

Film is based on The Killer Angels, Pulitzer Prize-winning novel by Michael Shaara. Plot begins in late June 1863, during the third year of civil war. Confederate States of America have, for the past two years, despite numerical and technical inferiority, managed to score series of victories against Union forces. Most of those victories were due to brilliant leadership of General Robert E. Lee (played by Martin Sheen) whose Army of Northern Virginia is to invade North and bring the war to enemy territory. More important aim for Lee is to engage and defeat Union Army of Potomac in large battle, thus opening the path to Washington, D.C. where Union politicians would have no other choice but accept Southern terms for peace and accept independence of Confederacy. At first, it seems that the plan might work when Confederate spy William Henry Harrison (played by Cooper Huckabee) accurately reports the enemy’s movements, thus allowing Lee to concentrate his forces near Pennsylvania town of Gettysburg. However, on July 1st Union general John Buford (played by Sam Eliott), with his relatively small cavalry force, takes defensive position on hills south of the city. Although he, as well as reinforcements led by General John F. Reynolds (played by John Rothman) are forced to retreat because of Confederate’s superior numbers, they buy enough time for the rest of Army of Potomac to take even more formidable defensive position on Cemetery Hill. On July 2nd Lee orders his forces to try outflanking this position, but this manoeuvre is thwarted due to heroic actions of Union 20th Maine Infantry Regiment whose commander, Colonel Joshua Chamberlain (played by Jeff Daniels) managed to hold extreme left flank of the army at Little Round Top. On July 3rd Lee, convinced that the centre of Union line is the weakest and against advice of General James Longstreet (played by Tom Berenger), orders General George Pickett (played by Stephen Lang) and his division to charge over open field.

Ronald F. Maxwell has been trying to make screen adaptation of Shaara’s novel for years. Project was initially envisioned as two-part miniseries, because it was hard to imagine that the epic scope of the battle could be adequately covered in regular feature film. Television networks were unwilling to take part, mostly due to large costs involved. Maxwell, with the help of Ken Burns, author of highly regarded documentary series Civil War, managed to get attention of Ted Turner, media mogul and founder of CNN, who was attracted to it due to his own Southern heritage and desire to have prestige project for his own TNT cable channel. Turner, however, also insisted that Gettysburg first receives theatrical distribution through New Line Cinema, film company he also owned. Although Gettysburg failed to recoup its 20 million US$ budget at the box office, its subsequent airing on TNT smashed all cable viewing ratings and the film later had great success at home video, arguably becoming the most successful screen work dedicated to US Civil War in past few decades.

Unlike many Hollywood film makers trying to reconstruct great historical battles, Maxwell strived for as much authenticity as possible. In doing so, he was helped by authorities allowing to use actual battle locations, as well as thousands experienced Civil War re-enactors who took part in the most spectacular battle scenes. The result was quite impressive, despite all technological and content limits of early 1990s American television. Film, which was made with a lot of enthusiasm by everyone involved, is today highly regarded by Civil War buffs due to its accuracy and attention towards detail. But the most important factor of its success is the script, which, like Shaara’s novel, refuses to cover complicated three-day battle in its entirety. Instead, it is concentrated at the battle’s most crucial moments and participants that were able to provide the most melodramatic moments on the screen. Gettysburg, on the other hand, disposes with attempts to put the bloody battle into broader political or strategic context, apart from brief narration at the beginning and some expository lines during end credits. Viewers who aren’t that familiar with US Civil War might have issues with connecting the dots. The film, like in American tradition maintained in first century after the awful fratricidal conflict, takes the route of national reconciliation and tries to portray both sides equally. Both armies feature patriotic characters willing to risk and lose their life for the cause they consider noble and just; Southerners are loyal to their heritage and want to preserve their states’ sovereignty, while Northerns are willing to anything to preserve Union. Almost all characters in the film are male and white; the only exception is runaway black slave who inspires Joshua Chamberlian to hold the speech reminding his war-weary and near-mutinous soldiers what this war is actually fought over.

There is a lot of pathos in the film, underlined by strong and memorable score by Randy Edelman. A lot of it can be attributed to diverse and enthusiastic cast. Martin Sheen, who was cast as Robert E. Lee in the last minute, is very effective in the role of talented, but ultimately unfortunate Southern leader. Jeff Daniels, who was cast partly due to his great physical resemblance to Joshua Chamberlain, delivers strong performance which is considered as the best of his career. Tom Berenger is also great as James Longstreet, general who was often considered by post-war Southerners as the main culprit for the defeat, although in the film he is portrayed as careful and intelligent leader; Berenger later claimed that Longstreet was the favourite role of his career. Sam Elliott is also good as Buford, while Richard Jordan shines in the role of Confederate General Lewis Armistead, one of the most tragic characters in the film, forced to fight against his best friend, Union general Winfield Scott Hancock (played by Brian Mallon). Jordan’s performance looks even more poignant in light of the fact that the actor was actually dying from cancer during the production. While some might be deterred by too much melodrama and insufficient levels of “political correctness”, Gettysburg is still a very good historic epic and good starting point for anyone willing to learn more about US Civil War. Its success inevitably led to attempts to cover other episodes of the war in the same way. Michael Shaara’s son Jeffrey Shaara wrote two novels depicting events before and after Gettysburg. The first of them, Gods and Generals, was in 2003 adapted into feature film, again directed by Ronald F. Maxwell and sharing most of the cast with Gettysburg; but, unlike 1993 film, it turned into massive flop, being rejected by audience and critics alike.

RATING: 7/10 (+++)

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