Product Description

They left the nightmare...and entered Hell. Captured Union soilders cope with life inside the Civil War's most notorious prisoner-of-war camp. A powerful, compeling tale of war and will, with Emmy Award-winning direction by John Frankenheimer and a cast including Frederic Forrest (Apocalypse Now) and William H. Macy (ER, Fargo) Year: 1996 Director: John Frankenheimer Starring: Jarrod Emick, Frederic Forrest, Ted Marcoux

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7705 in DVD
• Brand: Turner
• Released on: 2004-06-01
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, Dubbed, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, French, Spanish
• Dubbed in: French
• Number of discs: 1
• Running time: 167 minutes

Customer Reviews

"Andersonville Will Keep You Glued To The screen!
"Andersonville" is an intense drama about a Civil War prison camp for captured Union soldiers. The camp is a huge stockade, built for 5,000 prisoners of war, but is filled to overcrowding with 8,000 Union POW's, and more arriving daily. The conditions are horrible beyond words, virtually no food, no sanitation, clothing in rags and tatters, no shelter from the rain, gangs rampaging through the camp, rampant disease, a hundred men dying a day - a literal hell on earth. Puported to be historical fact, the story centers on a brigade from Massachusetts and their struggle to survive, and what a horrendous struggle it is. Other reviewers have stated that the story is not entirely truthful. Due to the shortage of critical supplies in the south, I do not doubt that the deporable conditions existed exactly as depicted in the movie. I cannot comment on other issues as I have not read the book that the movie is based on. Truthful or not, the film is absolutely riveting! You will be shocked by the condition of the men, the violence in the camp, the slow agony of starvation, and the inevitable deline in the men, both physically and spiritually.

The film has no well-known "star" actors, but even so, the various actors perform marvelously. Their characterizations are as real as if they were really in the camp and suffering unto death.

This film was an eye-opener for me, for I never considered the fate of Civil War POW's. I will remember the conditions the men lived and died in for the rest of my life. I recommend it without reservation.

Jim "Konedog" Koenig

Worst of the Worst.......
After watching most movies, you absorb it and a day later it is more or less forgotten. NOT ANDERSONVILLE! This movie stuck with me for a solid week after viewing. Very similar to the way I felt after watching Schindlers List......

However, I think this movie should be viewed as a look into what all of the Civil War camps were like. The Union obviously had prison war camps also. Such as Fort Jefferson, Fort Delaware & Camp Chase to name a few. Many of the conditions in these camps were just as bad.......

However, Andersonville was the worst of the worst of all prison camps North & South. And this movie depicts the conditions extremely well....

My only gripe with this movie is the portrayal of Captain Wirtz. It was really over the top....

Poor Historical Accuracy
It appears that the producer/s of this particular film used quite a few unreliable sources in the production of this film. Capt. Henry Wirz is portrayed as the original nazi (he was a swiss immigrant), a shallow, sadistic man who had absolutely no concern about the wellfare of prisoners in his charge. The fact is that the horrendous conditions at Andersonville (Camp Sumter) were the product of southern war shortages, not the product of a psychopath. Moreover, the battle royal between the raiders and the regulators depicted in the film never happened. In reality, Sgt. Key's (Limber Jim) regulators arrested the raiders with the help of the confederate guards and the courts-martial occurred at the insistance of Wirz, not the prisoners. Finally, only 11 men are known to have been shot on the deadline. However, in the film, confederate guards are portrayed as indiscriminately shooting a prisoner for fun, implying that such shootings were common. All this might make for excellent film drama but, it is extremely poor history. So, what is good about this film? The movie does depict the stockade and the terrible living conditions within quite accurately. But if you want to learn what really happened at Andersonville, I suggest you invest your time in reading William Marvel's book Andersonville: The Last Depot.