| . |
Gods and Generals
(Reviewed February 4, 2003)
-
Laughably awful dialog and robotic acting sink this historical (and sometimes unintentionally hysterical) Civil War drama. Your jaw will drop in disbelief when you see stilted scenes such as Confederate General Stonewall Jackson and his black cook taking turns sharing a starlit roadside prayer, during which the cook asks God how good men can tolerate slavery. (Jackson should have rolled his eyes and said, "Wow, real flair for subtlety, dude.") Or the scene in which Mira Sorvino, playing the wife of Union Colonel Joshua Chamberlain (Jeff Daniels), delivers what may be the corniest and most sap-laden sendoff since talkies came in (quoting that old chestnut about knowing her hubby could not love her as well had he "loved not honor more"). Or the scene in which the aforementioned Colonel Chamberlain lectures an assistant on not using the term "darkies," then piously proclaims that "freeing the negro" would be worth the sacrifice of his own life AND that of the assistant (pretty big of him).
Robert Duvall embues General Robert E. Lee with roughly the same amount of dignity and gravitas as that possessed by an especially unexcitable oak tree. We never see even a spark of passion or anger from him, as he sits and watches battles unfold with all the casual disinterest of a distracted chess player. Maybe that kind of "above-it-allness" was the point, but it still seems wholly unconvincing on a character level.
The real shame of all this is that there obviously are lots of incredibly moving stories within the Civil War years. This comes back to the admittedly simplistic-sounding complaint that "Gods and Generals" should have been a whole lot better. (Duh.) For example, when a major historical character in this tale is grievously wounded as a result of "friendly fire," his later death should have been at least a little bit moving--but he has been rendered as such a cartoon that any real empathy for him is nearly impossible.
Also, the movie could have done with a debate or two about the fact that, in what is supposed to be the land of the free, states cannot take advantage of that freedom by setting themselve free from the union. Here in La-La Land where I live, the same sort of issue came up during the 2002 election. The majority of us in Los Angeles' western San Fernando Valley voted to secede from the city of Los Angeles and go our own way as an independent city. But because of the criminally, absurdly unfair legislative rules regarding the issue, a majority of the ENTIRE CITY had to vote likewise. They didn't (big surprise), so those of us whose income is not welfare-derived retained the honor of staying yoked to that wholly corrupt metropolis, continuing to pay a wildly disproportionate percentage of the city's sky-high taxes. The bastards in charge should rename the town East Berlin! Build guard towers at the tops of palm trees, and set up checkpoints where we have to empty our wallets whenever we dare to emerge from our overpriced houses to dodge drive-by gangs and maneuver around loitering day-laborers and other illegal immigrants selling bags of fruit at every gridlocked intersection! Aaaaaaaaaarghhhhh!
But I digress...
Back Row Grade: D-
(Return to index by closing this window)
|
. |