Product Description

A sweeping epic charting the early years of the Civil War and how campaigns unfolded from Manassas to the Battle of Fredericksburg, this prequel to the film Gettysburg explores the motivations of the combatants and examines the lives of those who waited at home.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #3610 in DVD
• Brand: LANG,STEPHEN
• Released on: 2003-07-15
• Rating: PG-13 (Parental Guidance Suggested)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, Dolby, DVD, Subtitled, Widescreen, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Subtitled in: English, Spanish, French
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .20 pounds
• Running time: 219 minutes

Amazon.com

The more you know about the Civil War, the more you'll appreciate Gods and Generals and the painstaking attention to detail that Gettysburg writer-director Ronald F. Maxwell has invested in this academically respectable 220-minute historical pageant. In adapting Jeffrey Shaara's 1996 novel (encompassing events of 1861-63, specifically the Virginian battles of Bull Run, Fredericksburg, and Chancellorsville), Maxwell sacrifices depth for scope while focusing on the devoutly religious "Stonewall" Jackson (Stephen Lang), whose Confederate campaigns endear him to Gen. Robert E. Lee (Robert Duvall, giving the film's most subtle performance). Battles are impeccably recreated using 7,500 Civil War re-enactors and sanitized PG-13 violence, their authenticity compromised by tasteful discretion and endless scenes of grandiloquent dialogue. Still, as the first part of a trilogy that ends with The Last Full Measure, this is a superbly crafted, instantly essential film for Civil War study. For all its misguided priorities, Gods and Generals is a noble effort, honoring faith and patriotism with the kind of reverence that has all but vanished from American film – but provides abundant proof that historical accuracy is no guarantee of great storytelling. --Jeff Shannon

Customer Reviews

They don't make movies like this anymore!
...The fact is that "Gods and Generals", which covers the first two years of the war and is the prequel to "Gettysburg", is a great movie. It is painstakingly accurate, wonderfully filmed and scripted, and the acting was suburb. Stephen Lang deserves an Oscar for his brilliant portrayal of Gen. "Stonewall" Jackson. Robert Duvall is also excellent as Gen. Robert E. Lee. Jeff Daniels, who played Col. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain in "Gettysburg", reprises his role in G&G, as do other actors from "Gettysburg".

If you're expecting something like "Saving Private Ryan", you'll be disappointed. It's not that kind of a movie. "Gods and Generals" is part documentary, part drama, with the right mix of both to make it both highly entertaining and historically intriguing. As you listen to the characters, you almost believe that they're from the period and places in which the story is set.

What stuck in the craw of the critics is that this movie didn't present the Confederates as fire-breathing, racist, slavery-defending apes, and the Federals as saintly freedom-fighters. It would be simplistic and wrong to characterize the war as a struggle between good and evil. The vast majority of the Confederate soldiers didn't own slaves and didn't fight for the right to keep slaves. A lot of the Union soldiers, probably most, weren't fighting to free the slaves. There were flawed men on both sides of the war, as well as deeply moral men.

You can debate all you want about how much slavery was an issue in the Civil War, but as to this movie, all points of view were well represented through the characters: Lt. Col. Chamberlain of the 20th Maine, a professor-turned-soldier who was sympathetic to the plight of the black slaves; Confederate Gen. Robert E. Lee, commander of the Army of Northern Virginia, a man of outstanding military service in the Federal army prior to the Civil War and a most beloved commander, who chose to defend his home state of Virginia against what he saw as an unlawful invasion by the North; Gen. Stonewall Jackson, a fearless and deeply religious man, devoted husband and a brilliant military tactician who loved the Union, but was fiercely loyal to Virginia; Martha, the house slave, who bravely turns away looting Union soldiers from her masters' home during the seige in Fredericksburg, but later takes in the Union's wounded, and who yearns to be free; Jim Lewis, Gen. Jackson's black cook, who prays that one day all of this family will be free. Unforgettable characters, all of them.

If you are uncomfortable with religious overtones and poetic dialogue (sorry, but that's how people were back the), don't buy this DVD. If you don't care at all about American history, skip this one. If you can't watch any historical movie without the filter of 21st century values or political correctness, this movie isn't for you. If you have a short attention span, forget it. This movie clocks in at about 3:37.

If you are interested in the Civil War, or just curious and want to learn about it, if you're tired of all the [stuff] coming out of Hollywood these days, and you're willing to let a movie make you think for a change, if you can put your 21st century frame of mind on hold, I think you'll enjoy this DVD. No matter what the critics are saying, "Gods and Generals" will stand the test of time.

A great civil war classic!!
God and generals is a very good and interesting movie which is part one of a trilogy based on the civil war. Stephan Lang did an excellent job as general Sonewall Jackson his performance gives me a better look as what the real Thomas Stonewall Jackson must have been as a leader of the confederate army. Robert Duvall made a great Robert E. Lee a better performance than Martin Sheen in Gettysburg. Jeff Daniels returns as Lt. Chamberlain a roll which stands out in Gettysburg and continues to shine in Gods and Generals. The battle scenes in this were a lot clearer and had more of a punch than the battles in the film Gettysburg. The battles that really stood out in this movie were Fredericksburg when the two Irish Birgades on opposing sides were shooting and killing each other. Between the music score and the way the battle was filmed it really has a powerful impact. The battle of Chancellorsville the films final battle really stood out when you see all these confederates coming out of the woods without making a sound made my heart race. I enjoyed Gettysburg and it makes a very good sequal to gods and generals but between the two Gods and Generals had the most impact on me. If you have an interest in the civil war these movies along with Glory opens your mind and gives you a strong image to what it was like actually being there. The things I wish they had in Gods and Generals is the battle of Antietam the bloodiest day in the civil war, and the rebel yell I've read that it was used by Stonewall Jackson just before he advanced his troops to attack. I look foward to seeing The Last Full Measure keeping Robert Duvall as Robert E. Lee and bringing Jeff Daniels, and Stephan Lang back. Overall an enjoyable historic experience.

Warning! Explicit Bible reading
"Gods and Generals" could have used some tighter editing, just as many of the professional and online reviewers say. But some of their more hostile comments tell more about the reviewers than about the picture. World magazine writer Gene Edward Veith gigged them nicely with this mock content advisory:

"Warning! This movie contains explicit Bible reading. Scenes contain graphic depictions of prayer. The language may not be suitable for viewers offended by nonprofane references to Jesus. Viewers are strongly cautioned due to intense moralizing, violently affectionate marriages, and gratuitous displays of selfless behavior."

It's hard to portray piety well on-screen, and Hollywood these days scarcely ever tries to do so. But Stephen Lang pulls it off. His Jackson is stern, warm, charismatic and convincing. I had long imagined a film about Stonewall, and this is almost all I could have desired.

I had envisioned Ed Harris in the role, as he bears a strong resemblance to Jackson, but I don't think Harris could have outdone Lang or even equalled him. If you doubt Lang's acting chops, just watch him play Pickett in "Gettysburg." What a contrast to Lang's Jackson! Each portrayal has a life of its own. Lang's performance outdoes even the great Robert Duvall, who here and there lets the hint of a "Lonesome Dove" mannerism slip into his portrayal of Lee.

"Gods and Generals" is especially welcome in that it contains none of the puerile nonsense that spoiled the recent would-be epics "Pearl Harbor" and "The Patriot." Plodding it may be, but it should at least get credit for its maturity.

Here's what I missed in "Gods and Generals" and hope to see in the 6-hour DVD:

* Some sense of how Jackson and Lee earned their immense reputations, in the Valley and Peninsula campaigns and at Second Manassas.

* Some more attention to the Federal commanders, who were the tragicomic foils for Lee's and Jackson's brilliance. In the movie, that parade of bunglers and blowhards is represented only by Burnside. I understand the DVD will include Antietam, so we may meet McClellan there, but I want to see Pope and Hooker huff, puff and fall on their faces, too.

* Speaking of bunglers and blowhards, a hard look at the secessionist firebrands who brought the war on might have mollified those critics who found the Southern cause way too idealized in this picture. Especially on the issue of slavery and race, a contrast could have been drawn between Jackson and someone like Confederate Vice President Alexander Stephens, who prattled about the "great truth" of white superiority. The South's bigotry resided in its politicians, not in men like Jackson. (One critic doubted that Jackson would ever have called the free black cook he hired "Mr. Lewis," as he does in the movie. But "Tom Fool" Jackson was known in pre-war Lexington for tipping his hat to black men on the street. Said he: "I could not be less polite to a Negro than he is to me.")

I look forward eagerly to seeing the conclusion of Mr. Maxwell's Civil War trilogy. In the role of U.S. Grant, the Union general who finally took Lee's measure, I'd suggest Russell Crowe. Like Grant, Crowe looks a bit surly, "as if he were about to drive his forehead through a brick wall."

And if Crowe isn't available, just call on Lang again. Embodying Jackson, Pickett AND Grant --- now, THAT would be an acting trifecta!