 May
2004
This month's review:
Gods and Generals
Whose Side Is God On?
What happens when those on opposing sides of an issue both
believe they have the moral high ground and, in effect, have God on
their side? That question is at the heart of Gods and Generals,
which chronicles the period from the beginning of the Civil War up
through the spring of 1863, before the Battle of Gettysburg. Now
here’s the gist of the question: the story is told primarily from
the point of view of the South and is sympathetic in many ways to
the southern cause. Ultimately, however, it comes down morally on
the side of the North in its opposition to slavery. Who is right?
Whose side is God on? We usually seek easy, black-and-white answers
to questions like these, but here it’s not that simple.
Gods and Generals is the “prequel” to Gettysburg
(released in 1993 and based on Michael Shaara’s
Pulitzer-Prize-winning novel Killer Angels) and is chronologically
the first in a trilogy of films dealing with the Civil War.
Gods and Generals has three principal stars: Robert Duvall
as General Robert E. Lee; Jeff Daniels as Lt. Col. Joshua Lawrence
Chamberlain, of the North; and Stephen Lang as the southern general
Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson.
All three principals are Christian men, and the amazing thing
about this movie is the amount of reverence it shows for the Lord.
Several characters pray often in heartfelt fashion, all the more
surprising given that Gods and Generals is a Ted
Turner production. The main character is Stonewall Jackson, with the
story told largely from his viewpoint. Jackson is a quintessentially
Christian man who is thoroughly grounded in scripture and consults
the Lord in all that he does. Before the war he says his first
allegiance is to God and the second to his state, Virginia. He loves
the Union but will do whatever Virginia does. Once Virginia secedes,
he opposes the Yankees with a vengeance. He believes that, slavery
notwithstanding, the South is in the right, and he will do
everything in his power to support southern independence and oppose
northern tyranny. In one very moving speech as he is about to go
into battle, Jackson says he is serene about the outcome, knowing
that whatever happens will be God’s will.
Chamberlain, Jackson’s northern counterpart, is not nearly as
flamboyant or interesting a character as Jackson, but he has the
moral high ground. In one of his most important speeches he tells
his aide not to call blacks “darkies” because that is a disparaging
term from which Americans must free themselves. He goes on to say
his southern counterparts have integrity in that they believe
strongly in what they are doing. Nevertheless, he says, they are
simply wrong. How can it be right to maintain a society in which one
group of people is enslaved by the majority?
This clash between the sympathetic treatment of the South on the
one hand and the moral exaltation of the North on the other provides
the principal tension in the movie. At one point, Jackson compares
the South’s battle against the North to David’s battle against
Goliath. God was clearly on the side of David, but we mustn’t forget
that the North that was the ultimate victor.
One particularly interesting feature of the film is that, in tune
with its sympathy for the southern psyche, many disparaging comments
are made about Abraham Lincoln and members of his administration.
The tenor of those comments is a good deal like the political
rhetoric we are hearing today. Time will reveal who is in the right.
Here’s a question: why was Gods and Generals
virtually ignored by the secular media on its release a year ago,
while a year later The Passion of the Christ has
established itself as a blockbuster? Has something radically changed
in the last year? Are the differences due simply to marketing and
the star power of director Mel Gibson? Could we be experiencing, or
beginning to experience, revival?
Gods and Generals was barely seen in theaters at
all in 2003 but is now readily available in video and DVD. If you
get a chance to see it on the big screen, I’d strongly recommend it.
It’s rated PG-13 for “sustained battle scenes,” but most of the
violence is simulated and certainly not gratuitous. The acting is
uniformly excellent. There’s no profanity to speak of. It’s an
excellent history lesson, and it honors the Lord. The only
cautionary note is this: the movie is long—over 200 minutes.
Rating: 3 ½
stars
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Index of movie
reviews...
(2003 reviews through present)
Jay Maurer, a member of West Side Presbyterian Church, is
a long-term movie buff and former college teacher of The Film as
Literature. He has written movie reviews for The Good News
(West Side newsletter) since 2002.
If you have comments or questions
about the movie (or play) reviews, please contact Jay at
dramachap@msn.com.
Ratings are expressed in
increments of ¼ star.
A rating of 2 ½ stars or higher is meant to be a recommendation.
1 star: poor
2 stars: minimally satisfactory
3 stars: quite good
4 stars: superb
Criteria for determining the ratings:
- Reflection, either explicit or implicit, of Christian values,
including suitability of language and lack of gratuitous violence
- Quality of the acting
- Originality
- Unity of the entire picture
- Substance, or in the words of C.S. Lewis, weight
Other Christian movie review Web sites:
Plugged In Online
ChristianityTodayMovies.com
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