fredroyer
I recently reviewed Gods and Generals and gave it a one star, so I thought it was only fair I review Gettysburg.Now I read all 3 books at least once year: Gods and Generals, The Killer Angels, and The Last Full Measure.Maxwell comes pretty close to getting everything right, which makes me wonder why he just made stuff up for Gods and Generals. The lighting and photograghy by Kees Van Oostrum is outstanding, especially in the interior scenes - they didn't have electricity back then, you had to duplicate candle light and lanterns.I watched this again the other week. It was made for TV and it shows. The action scenes are dodgy. The battle of little round top was excellent but during the bayonet charge, you can clearly see the extras stopping in the middle of things and standing around awkwardly - almost like they are not getting paid for this and they don't want to get hurt.
gavin6942
In 1863, the Northern and Southern forces fight at Gettysburg in the decisive battle of the American Civil War.While this is truly a great film and one that probably got many people interested in history and the Civil War, it is also sort of strange in its forced portrayal of the events. Despite a massive budget, some of the beards look ridiculously fake. And the dialogue is often very unnatural, thrown in to make a point. The speech where it is shown that many Confederate soldiers were the grandchildren of Revolutionary War patriots is very interesting, but it is extremely unlikely that any such conversation happened. Why would a general even know who a soldier's great-uncle was? Anyway, if you can ignore the beards and the overly-clean uniforms, this is a pretty spectacular movie that goes out of its way to get an emotional response from people.
Patrick Nackaert
If there's only one word to describe this movie, it's epic. In all of its meanings: length, dialogues, significance, music, scenery, massive battlefields and so on.The length (over 4 hours) probably scares potential viewers, as well as the locations: most of the footage was shot in the surroundings of Gettysburg.However, the film is nothing less than a tour de force. It brings a balanced mix of personal stories, military strategy and battle scenes. Both the Union and Confederal sides are portrayed in a neutral manner.The film captures the viewers' attention from beginning to end. The incredible eye for detail, the relentless tension, the battle's background story and many other aspects make it a film to watch again. Martin Sheen's interpretation of Confederate General Lee is also one of those reasons.Both the horror and the glory take their place in the movie. Even if the film was produced over 20 years ago, the political aspects are still relevant today in the United States of America. For history lovers, this is nothing less than a must-see.
carissawolff
Overall, the movie had many factual errors and held significant bias. At many points, the Union was portrayed as fighting for equal rights for African Americans, while many were actually fighting for peace and unity within America. There were also historical mistakes regarding the point in time that the Civil War took place, such as too many stars on flags and incorrect currency. Although errors were displayed, Gettysburg depicted history with great detail and was closely related to the real event. It took its time to get to the point, which is both helpful with information and incredibly boring. There were points that were exciting and ones that seemed more like a lecture or watching paint dry. It was worth the watch though!
AD
