On Monday, May 30, 2011, the History Channel will air a new Civil War film on Gettysburg. This film is produced by Tony and Ridley Scott. The trailer for the movie looks good so this is something that I am looking forward to watching. If you are teaching the Civil War at this time of year, you may want to have your students watch the movie.
Here is a summary of the movie:
Gettysburg is a 2-hour HISTORY special that kicks off a week of History programming commemorating the 150’th anniversary of the Civil War. Executive produced by Ridley and Tony Scott, this special strips away the romanticized veneer of the Civil War. It presents the pivotal battle of Gettysburg in a new light: as a visceral, terrifying and deeply personal experience, fought by men with everything on the line. Compelling CGI and powerful action footage place viewers in the midst of the fighting, delivering both an emotional cinematic experience and an information packed look at the turning points, strategic decisions, technology and little known facts surrounding the greatest engagement ever fought on American soil.
The special begins in the high stakes summer of 1863, as the Confederate Army of Northern Virginia crosses into Pennsylvania. Trailed by the Union’s Army of the Potomac, Lee’s 75,000 strong army heads towards Harrisburg, converging instead near a quiet farm town, Gettysburg. Known then only as a crossroads where ten roads running in all directions converge like a wagon wheel, this small town would become site of an epic battle between North and South. For three days, each side fought there for their vision of what America should be.
In collaboration with highly esteemed Civil War historians, HISTORY combed through hundreds of individual accounts of the battle to find the unique voices of struggle, defeat and triumph that tell the larger story of a bitterly conflicted nation.
Here is the trailer from the movie:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OwNJS8dwkYs
Watched about seventy minutes of the Scott Brothers’ Gettysburg, and it was awful! General Barksdale looked like Wolverine from X-Men; most of the actors didn’t even resemble the actual historical characters; the segment explaining the rebel yell was done with the viewer getting a look at the inside of a Confederate’s mouth – nasty teeth, tongue and all; the topography and scenery didn’t even remotely resemble the actual town and its environs; and the combat sequences poorly portrayed the actual enormity in numbers of men, material, and acreage of the battlefield. Sadly, this poorly written, directed, and acted documentary will not redeem Turner’s sanitized and sappy Gettysburg. I give this two thumbs down!!