Ronald F. Maxwell created the definitive Civil War film with Gettysburg; the well-paced story balances Union and Confederate threads with exemplary performances from actors who took just the right amount of liberty with their roles. The four hour and thirty minute Director’s Cut leads up to the monumental battle at the film’s titular location, and while it’s a set piece that sets the bar for all future Civil War films, Maxwell created much more memorable moments with other battle sequences and between the characters. While sitting down for a 271-minute film can be daunting, when it’s as expertly done as Gettysburg, it only feels half as long.
The prologue sets up the film’s spot in history as the weeks just before the Confederates and Union converge upon a little town called Gettysburg, if for no other reason than it happens to be an intersection for many roads. Leading the way of the Union Army, and serving as its main protagonist, Col. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain (Jeff Daniels) leads an army of dwindling resources and manpower into the forest to defend a crucial strategic stronghold: Little Roundtop. His victory there leads the union onward and helps cement their position, making Gettysburg’s landscape an inevitable choice for a major confrontation. On the other side of the line, Gen. Robert E. Lee (Martin Sheen), Lt. Gen. James Longstreet (Tom Berenger), and Maj. Gen. George E. Pickett (Stephen Lang) prove time and again that the Confederate Army’s lack of fear over being outnumbered allows them to take bold risks with high rewards as they land one tactical success after another until Chamberlain begins to turn the tide.
Divided into various brigades, the main leads of the Confederate side receive many opportunities to take the spotlight, making the film feel somewhat dominated by Southern pride. Martin Sheen and Tom Berenger would seem impossible men to equal considering how well they perform here, each delivering their lines with their own interpretations of southern charm and wit, yet there’s no denying that some of the film’s most stirring and triumphant moments come from the underrated talent of Jeff Daniels. And, in an act of sheer brilliance, Sam Elliot has a (comparably) small but superb role as Brig. Gen. John Buford, whose early efforts on the Union’s behalf help to set the stage for everything that follows.
Just as with the follow-up prequel Gods and Generals, Gettysburg has a distinct flavor of Confederate sympathizing, but in contrast to its prequel, Gettysburg’s script and the performances help that pride come across as more than just a simple lapse in directorial judgment. Instead it feels like the rebels lost as not just a result of bad luck, tactical losses, and attrition, but due to a sense of pride that blinded them to wiser courses of action. The dialogue which evenly breaks up the well-shot battle sequences has the actors of the Confederate side debating issues in the scope of identity and individualism whereas the Union conversations tend towards ideals and a sense of collectivism to uphold them. It’s a well-marked divergence in the two sides and it serves the film’s major events perfectly.
The battles filmed for Gettysburg remain tops in their field, but save for an impressive opening barrage of cannon fire to start off the Battle of Gettysburg, the true masterwork of the film’s set pieces is the Battle at Little Roundtop which manages to ratchet up the personal and war drama just right. For this scene alone Daniels deserves more recognition than he received, but the scene without him would still have been technically brilliant. A battle fought through dense forest could just as easily have been incomprehensible with all of the trunks obscuring the full picture, but Maxwell and strong performances made the characters stand out and the scene is incredible.
The Blu-ray transfer of Gettysburg is a marked improvement over earlier variations and in the late night scenes among Lee and his men the picture is surprisingly crisp. The battle scenes also benefit tremendously, but only at times. The original cinematography had a few oddly out of focus moments and some less than perfectly finished scenes, but overall the high-def presentation of Gettysburg and its above-and-beyond battles benefit from the transfer. As with Gods and Generals, if you happen to have a surround sound system, the audio channels make the cannon fire humbling.
Blu-ray Bonus Features
Three featurettes, the third an Oscar nominee for Best Documentary Short Subject, appear on the second disc, and include a “making of” piece, a look at the locations used in filming, and the feature “The Battle of Gettysburg”, a much more in-depth look at the history of the battle and its now infamous location.
"Gettysburg: Director's Cut" is on sale May 24, 2011 and is rated PG. Drama, War. Directed by Ronald F Maxwell. Written by Michael Shaara (novel), Ronald F. Maxwell (screenplay). Starring Jeff Daniels, Martin Sheen, Sam Elliott, Stephen Lang, Tom Berenger.
