Word: wars
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...Overall, however, the film lacks a convincing historical grounding and the initial battles become entertaining occasions for fancy horse tricks, barn burnings, gunfights and bloodshed. The men seem to enjoy the brotherhood of slaughter and use the Civil War as an excuse to release testosterone. Jonathan Rhys Meyers, while adding to the cast of visually appealing young males, should never be seen in Civil War costume again. He looks like a rock star attempting to cut a hip urban cowboy image for a music video rather than the blood-thirsty, Roedel-hating Bushwacker Pitt Mackeson. Why Mackeson actually hates Roedel...
...pleasant afternoon fades into a Jayhawk raid on a slave-owning farm. This rapid transition lets Lee quickly establish the historical subtext for the film. Lee's unique insight in exploring a different angle of the Civil War, namely the conflict in Missouri between Kansas Jayhawkers (fighting to destroy slavery) and Bushwackers (Southern guerillas), should be commended. Lacking ties with the established armies, these "irregulars," traveling in bands such as the one Roedel and Chiles join, rode through the countryside killing innocent people and destroying enemy farms...
...Unfortunately, the plot and screenplay detract from the film's artistic merit. James Schamus' screenplay might reflect the language of the Civil War, yet the dialogue is entirely self-important and melodrama destroys any stake the viewer might have in the plot. Lee wishes to establish the North as a human presence, so Roedel reads some found union letters to the camp. Similarly, Lee has Roedel and Chiles talk under the stars to emphasize the characters' brotherhood...
...allows Holt to express his desire for freedom. Similarly, a Bushwacker sympathizer reveals why he believes the North will win, "They fight because they believe everyone should have liberty and freedom. We fight because we care about ourselves." Lee deserves credit for addressing this astute evaluation of the Civil War...
...film seems to grow longer and longer. Lee allows an artificial sense of dramatic climax to unfold with the 1863 Bushwacker assault on Lawrence, Kansas. The viewer expects Holt and Roedel to perish in a tragic death in battle so Lee can make some sort of universal claim that war is pointless. However, Roedel and Holt merely receive injuries and miraculously, find themselves at the Shelley farm. Images of Jewel breast-feeding her child again distract the viewer and destroy whatever dramatic tension remains. In a contrived plot twist, Shelley maneuvers herself into matrimonial bliss with Roedel...