Civil War

HARRIET: story great, movie only okay

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Cynthia Erivo in HARRIET. Photo courtesy of Focus Features.

I first watched the trailer for Harriet askance because the Harriet Tubman action figure I saw on-screen didn’t resemble the tiny, revered Tubman in the sepia photos. But that is because of my own skepticism of Hollywood history and my own woeful ignorance of the historic Tubman. The ancient lady in her photos and the historic Tubman are explained in this fine NYT piece Harriet Tubman Facts and Myths: How the Movie Tried to Get it Right. As Harriet’s director Kasi Lemmons says in this NYT article, “You don’t have an image of what she was like when she was actually doing this work in her late 20s, when she was this young superheroine, this completely badass woman.”

Harriet is good history. The problem is that Lemmons doesn’t trust us to appreciate Tubman’s heroism when we see it – a 100-mile solo escape from slavery, guiding 75 escaped slaves to freedom with the Underground Railroad, leading troops into battle to free 700 more in the Civil War, and becoming a thought leader in the abolitionist and suffragist movements. So we have this swelling music every time Tubman does something inspirational. The constant, obvious beatification is distracting.

Tubman is played with convincing intensity by Cynthia Erivo. Erivo was absolutely the best thing about the Steve McQueen film Widows; since Erivo’s character teamed with those played by Viola Davis, Michelle Rodriguez and Elizabeth Debicki, the fact that she stole the movie is impressive. Erivo is a Broadway musical actress/singer, and Harriet uses her singing talent as well.

If you’re not expecting great cinema, you’ll appreciate this important and compelling history. Harriet makes it clear why Tubman belongs on the twenty dollar bill.

MEN GO TO BATTLE: getting away from an obnoxious brother the hard way

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MEN GO TO BATTLE
Timothy Morton in MEN GO TO BATTLE

In the indie drama Men Go to Battle, it’s 1861 and two bachelor brothers are sharing an especially unprosperous farmstead in rural Kentucky.  Brash and loudmouthed, brother Francis (David Maloney) confidently plunges into one foolhardy scheme after another.   His quiet practical brother Henry (Timothy Morton) picks up the pieces.  Not one to use words to express his feelings, Henry has finally had enough of Francis and simply leaves for the Civil War without notice.

Observing Francis is plenty amusing, because of his unerringly wrongheaded impulses. But the stone faced Henry, for whom still waters run deep, is much more interesting – we wonder what he is thinking and what he is going to do.  Once he’s made up his mind, he is decisive and resolute.  In a remarkably powerful scene on the morning after the Battle of Stones River (Perryville), he wordlessly decides about war and about his part in it.

Men Go to Battle is the first feature for director and co-writer Zachary Treitz.   His co-writer is the actress Kate Lyn Sheil (Sun Don’t Shine, House of Cards), who has a small acting part (as does indie director Amy Seimetz).

Visually, much of movie is way too dark (as in you can’t see what is going on).  But Men Go to Battle does an exceptional job of illustrating the QUIET of pre-electric and pre-motorized North America.

[Note: Some critics have described this movie s “Civil War Mumblecore”. Indeed, it’s a low-budget indie made by thirty-somethings and the male actors DO mumble a lot. But I despise the Mumblecore genre because the stories are about underachieving slackers who are navel gazing and whining about first world problems. That’s not the case here. This movie is about a real family relationship, and there is no entitlement or snivelling, so it’s NOT Mumblecore.]

Men Go to Battle is available to to stream from Amazon Instant, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.

DVD/Stream of the Week: FREE STATE OF JONES – sound and compelling history, with a sizzling McConaughey

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Mahershala Ali and Matthew McConaughey star in FREE STATE OF JONES
Mahershala Ali and Matthew McConaughey in FREE STATE OF JONES

Free State of Jones is the compelling story of resistance to the Confederacy and to white supremacy by Southerners during and after the Civil War. Matthew McConaughey stars as Newton Knight, an overlooked but quite singular figure in American history. It is little-known, but the Confederacy actually lost control of some Mississippi counties to poor white farmers who tired of fighting a war to benefit the rich slave-holders.

I am a pretty serious Civil War history buff, and I was planning to skip Free State of Jones entirely until I found out about writer-director Gary Ross’ commitment to taking the history seriously. In fact, Ross has posted a very impressive website which outlines the historical events and figures depicted in the movie and even links the primary historical source material. I’ve never seen such a credible effort by a filmmaker to explain how he got the history right. Here’s a New York Tines article about the movie, Ross and his website.

In the second act of his career, McConaughey has delivered brilliant performances in excellent movies (Mud, Bernie, The Paperboy, Killer Joe, The Wolf of Wall Street, Dallas Buyers Club, True Detective). Here, he positively sizzles as the intensely principled and determined Newt Knight. The rest of the cast is excellent, too, especially Mahershala Ali (House of Cards) as an escaped slave turned Reconstruction political organizer.

Free State of Jones effectively combines the elements of political drama, romance and war movies into an absorbing drama, one which connects the dots between the 19th Century and the 20th and beyond. It’s now available on DVD from Netflix (and coming soon to Redbox) and streaming from Amazon, iTunes, Vudu, YouTube and Google Play.

FREE STATE OF JONES: sound and compelling history, with a sizzling McConaughey

by

Mahershala Ali and Matthew McConaughey star in FREE STATE OF JONES
Mahershala Ali and Matthew McConaughey in FREE STATE OF JONES

Free State of Jones is the compelling story of resistance to the Confederacy and to white supremacy by Southerners during and after the Civil War.  Matthew McConaughey stars as  Newton Knight, an overlooked but quite singular figure in American history.  It is little-known, but the Confederacy actually lost control of some Mississippi counties to poor white farmers who tired of fighting a war to benefit the rich slave-holders.

I am a pretty serious Civil War history buff, and I was planning to skip Free State of Jones entirely until I found out about writer-director Gary Ross’ commitment to taking the history seriously.  In fact, Ross has posted a very impressive website which outlines the historical events and figures depicted in the movie and even links the primary historical source material.  I’ve never seen such a credible effort by a filmmaker to explain how he got the history right. Here’s a New York Tines article about the movie, Ross and his website.

In the second act of his career, McConaughey has delivered brilliant performances in excellent movies  (Mud, Bernie, The Paperboy, Killer Joe, The Wolf of Wall Street, Dallas Buyers Club, True Detective).  Here, he positively sizzles as the intensely principled and determined Newt Knight.  The rest of the cast is excellent, too, especially Mahershala Ali (House of Cards) as an escaped slave turned Reconstruction political organizer.

Free State of Jones effectively combines the elements of political drama, romance and war movies into an absorbing drama, one which connects the dots between the 19th Century and the 20th and beyond.

Coming Up on TV: The two best Civil War films

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Jeff Daniels (center) in Gettysburg

The Civil War began 150 years ago this month, and TCM is broadcasting the two best Civil War movies on April 25.

Ron Maxwell’s 1994 Gettysburg is the gold standard of Civil War films.  It follows Michael Shaara’s superb historical novel The Killer Angels and depicts the decisive three day battle.  It was filmed on the actual battlefield with re-enactors.  Maxwell took great care in maintaining historical accuracy.  Civil War buffs will recognize many lines of dialogue as historical, as well as shots that recall famous photographs.  In addition, Gettysburg is especially well-acted, especially by Jeff Daniels, Tom Berenger, Stephen Lang, Sam Elliott and Brian Mallon.

The other very best Civil War movie is the 1989 Glory, which tells the real-life story of an all-black unit in the Union Army.  Glory has tremendous performances by Denzel Washington, Andre Braugher, Morgan Freeman and Jihmi Kennedy.