![]() Every group of fighting men is identified by subtitles, to such a degree that I wondered, fleetingly, if they were being played by Civil War Re-enactment hobbyists who would want to nudge their friends when their group appeared on the screen. What we know about the war from the photographs of Mathew Brady, the poems of Walt Whitman and the documentaries of Ken Burns is not duplicated here. That part is accurate, although the stench, the blood and the cries of pain are tastefully held to the PG-13 standard. Countless extras line up, march forward and shoot at each other. The music, when it is not funereal, sounds like the band playing during the commencement exercises at a sad university. The conflict is handled with solemnity worthy of a memorial service. So we get that cleared up right there, or for sure at Strom Thurmond's birthday party. ![]() Slavery is not the issue, in this view, because it would have withered away anyway, although a liberal professor from Maine ( Jeff Daniels) makes a speech explaining it is wrong. The Northerners, one Southerner explains, are mostly Republican profiteers who can go home to their businesses and families if they're voted out of office after the conflict, while the Southerners are fighting for their homes. ![]()
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