Gettysburg

Gettysburg (1993)

Runtime: 271 minutes; that's right

Directed by: Ronald F. Maxwell

Starring: Tom Berenger, Martin Sheen, Jeff Daniels, Richard Jordan, Stephen Lang

From: Turner Pictures

Monday night I had both the time and desire to see this movie; as I prefer watching motion pictures in one shot, it does require a long block of time to see something that is 4 ½ hours long (in Director's Cut form) and not be distracted by anything else. I am glad I made that investment.

I am a history nerd; I got it from my father. So things like the American Civil War are interesting to me. To be brief, this battle took place in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania in early July, 1863 during the span of three days; while its importance has been argued through history, it certainly did seem like the tide turned towards the Union and after that the Confederates were on the defensive. The movie looks at both sides and some key players from each, from Robert E. Lee to Joshua Chamberlain. Along with the nicely done battles there are also plenty of big speeches... but as they are delivered from a talented cast that includes Sam Elliott, Tom Berenger, Martin Sheen, Jeff Daniels, Richard Jordan, Stephen Lang, and C. Thomas Howell, so they are always interesting.

As this movie was based on the 1974 novel The Killer Angels from Michael Shaara, they filmed in the general area of where combat took place and it was brought to the screen by Civil War buff Ted Turner, you know that the film is authentic and it's not historically inaccurate. There are several big moments that happen and they actually did take place in 1863. With the long runtime it allows you to look at the Civil War from many facets, from what the typical soldier thinks to the thought processes of the generals and colonels. While this was originally going to be a TV miniseries-meaning there is little blood, let alone gore-it still demonstrates that war is hell by showing hundreds of people getting killed and the misery of the makeshift hospitals on the battlefields and how many needed limbs amputated.

There are plenty of Civil War reenactors who cosplay as soldiers from the era and they put on reenactments of classic battles. Thus, it was easy to find many extras to play soldiers in this film. At the end there's a huge battle involving hundreds of them. Even if you know little about the battle, the movie is not too difficult to follow. If you want to learn more about an important time in American history and how things were like back then, even with the long runtime I say that this is worth watching.