Review of Gettysburg (1993) by Nick M — 27 May 2012

Hey kids, it's time for a fun fact: Gettysburg ran for a whopping "three" days. I know, that's really crazy, but enough about the "Gettysburg" movie, let's talk about the runtime of the actual Gettysburg battle. No, but seriously though, this is a long, long, movie, and I actually had the guts to throw on the extended version that, well, only had 17 minutes tossed on, which isn't that much when we're talking an over four-and-a-half hour long film, yet I still watched it that way and made it to the end, partially because I managed to keep myself alert by making myself chuckle every time I thought about Ramón E. Lee. Man, I think ol' Ben Willard here had the right idea going with the name Martin Sheen, because at the point when he played JFK, let alone the commander of the Confederate army, he had pretty much become the basis for, "Once you go 'white', you never go back". I love how I all but start my mornings by parting my curtains to the beautiful sunlight and singing birds, stretching back and proclaiming "Alabama isn't racist anymore, you yankees", and I choose to joke about white dominance, of all times, when I'm reviewing a movie about the war that pretty much sparked the near-universally-believed stereotype that the South is filled with racist monsters. Well, I guess it kind of cancels out, because if nothing else proves that we're not all stupid rednecks, then me watching this film should, because as white as drunk, racist, neanderthal rednecks are, they're not quite white enough to sit through a four-and-a-half hour movie about the Civil War, because at that point, you're so white that you make Martin Sheen look like the Ramón Antonio Gerardo Estévez he was so very wrongfully born as. Still, no matter who or what you are, boredom is universal, and while this is a really good film that's ultimately short on the slowness (It's the only time you can use the word short when describing this film), dull spots creep their ways in, as you would imagine.

The thing about this film is that a fair bit of it is all so very good and old fashion in tone, as well as, to a degree, storytelling, complete with excessive padding. Of course, where old fashion epics of this type didn't trim up because the editor just wanted to hurry up and get through with his cutting and gluing, this film pads out through endless exposition, which I can forgive just fine if we're talking about a film that's about two hours or so, but we're not. We're talking about a mammoth well over four hour long film that's mostly exposition told through dialogue, and no matter how much they try to keep things from getting too dry by incorporating a human casualness about the dialogue, all of the incessant talking gets to lose steam and dynamicity after a while, rendering the film, shockingly not montonous, yet still quite decidedly repetitious. This bloated exposition, or rather, over accurate portrayal of the events of the time, of course, supplement a very matter-of-fact tone that looms over the film, rarely bearing down on it, yet when it does set in a little too deeply, resonance suffers at the hands of a degree of arrogance that's only rarely intense, yet still proves to a touch impediment to the film's flow. It certainly adds a bit of inconsistency with such pieces of dramatisation as the aforementioned incorporation of casual dialogue amidst factual exposition, as well as the dramatic intensification - much of which gets to be simply cheesy -, leaving the film only slightly offputting in theme, yet still a smidge thematically uneven, neverless. The film is as sprawling, overwhelming and somewhat uneven as the very battle it's centered around, yet a winner, nevertheless, kept alive by, if nothing else, the charm of its inspiration. Still, there's no nothing else about this film, in terms of strength, because outside of the charm and fascinating intrigue, the real breath of life behind this film that pertains to its ambitions is the fulfillment of that ambition in quite a number of ways.

Kees Van Oostrum's cinematography is lush and sweeping, capturing the scope and glory of the environment, with Randy Edelman's remarkable score further texturizing the atmosphere, all centered around fine production designs and authentic locations that boast an immersive feel. All of this technical and stylistic skill all goes into supplementing the strength of the dazzling war sequences. Sure, these sequences are few and far between, as well as made overlong by faithfulness to battle authenticity to the point of dragging things out, yet the fact of the matter as that the combat is authentic in structure, yet still with much theatrical intensity to give the audience a sense of presence amidst the crossfire. For this, credit goes out to director Ron Maxwell (Huh, sounds like the lead in a bad cop show from the '80s) and his inspired direction, which is admittedly often inspired to a detrimental point, tainting the film with a few blows to the steam, yet on the whole, he keeps momentum alive and well, and more than expected, taking such an overlong, sprawling epic that mostly consists of exposition and matter-of-fact historical storytelling and drawing from it an unexpected amount of genuine entertainment value, married with emotional resonance, to create a thoroughly enjoyable epic that's mammoth length runs mostly rather smoothly, recieving an extra push from a cast both as sprawling and as charismatic as the film itself, with each performance delivering charm and, here and there, some depth. I would regard Martin Sheen a tremendous miscast for the role of Robert E. Lee, and yet, while he's coming nowere close to an Anthony Hopkins as Richard Nixon level of miscast transcendance, Sheen manages to capture much of the nobility and stern presence of Lee with an involving aura of humanity and professionalism that makes him entirely believable, maybe not necessarily as Lee himself - considering the dramatic miscast -, but as a strong leader. Sheen is a show-stealer, yet this is a show he shares with one fellow acting talent after another, and whether it be Tom Berenger, Jeff Daniels, Sam Elliot, Kevin Conway or Ponyboy Curtis-I mean, C. Thomas Howell, the film is riddled with a massive cast of glowing charismas with depth and believability, all tied into each other with comfortable chemistry. The film is faulty and bloated, yet charming in its ambition, with a stylish general fulfillment of those promises of depth and entertainment value securing the film as an ultimately satisfying day-long sit.

At the end of the three days the battle and its film ran, the film finds itself hurt by its unrelenting exposition and reptition that supplements a rather cocky matter-of-fact tone, somewhat jarringly broken up by the unsubtleties within the more melodramatised dramatised points, yet the film marches on... and on, and on, and on, propelled by a fine style and production to empower sweep and, by extension, a surprisingly prevalent amount of entertainment value, intrigue, depth and all around charm, carried by across-the-board charismatic and, at times, spirited performances and chemistry among the colossal cast, ultimately leaving Detective-I mean director Ron Maxwell's "Gettysburg" a fascinating, entertaining and rewarding epic recreation of the unforgettable turning point in an unforgettable war.

3/5 - Good.