Andersonville
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Movie Reviews of Andersonville
Movie Review: Very informative DVD!
Summary: 5 Stars
This DVD arrived quickly and in excellent shape. I watched this along with my husband, not personally knowing much about this time in history, and was amazed.Movie Review: Andersonville video
Summary: 5 Stars
Unbelievable service, from purchase to delivery. Needed a special video in a hurry and that's exactly what I got.Movie Review: Another name for Hell
Summary: 4 Stars
In the wake of the critical and commercial success of A Man For All Seasons, Fred Zinnemann unsuccessfully attempted to use his post-Oscar clout to make a film about the atrocities at the infamous Confederate Civil War prison camp where 12,912 Union prisoners of war died of starvation and disease, but as many others had found out before him, studio chiefs didn't think it was the sort of thing to reverse declining cinema attendance and pulled the plug before a frame was shot. There had been a small-scale early TV play about the post-war trial of the officer in charge but it wasn't until Ted Turner's success with Gettysburg that a full-scale dramatization of life inside the stockade made it to the screen, and then only on the small one. The biggest name on the credits of Andersonville is director John Frankenheimer, then going through something of a critical comeback returning to the medium that first brought him to prominence: the cast is good, but it's more a case of a few familiar faces rather than big stars - Frederic Forrest, Cliff de Young, William Sanderson, William H. Macey - among a cast largely made up of little-known actors. Yet it's very clear that a lot of money has been spent, and that it's been made on a truly epic scale. Rarely has the old copywriters' pitch `a cast of thousands' seemed more appropriate as almost every scene boasts swathes of re-enactors to fill out the overcrowded prison.
Despite being made for television it never looks threadbare and it never feels like its playing down the ugliness of the situation in the name of taste or network censorship even if it doesn't dwell on the details as much as it could. Built for 8000 but ending up housing 45,000, Andersonville itself was little more than a cattle pen: no barracks, a fetid stream, a lot of mud and far too many inmates surrounded by a wall and watchtowers, it didn't take much to turn it into a festering hellhole, with rations often withheld by the commander, water so rancid that inmates had to wring rainwater from their clothes to avoid fever, child guards daring prisoners to cross the `dead line' so they could kill them for a bounty and prisoners forming gangs to prey on and often kill each other. Even Confederate officials regarded it as `a disgrace to civilization.' In a war as ugly as the one between the States, it's some measure of how bad things were that the only man convicted and executed for war crimes in the entire Civil War was the commander of Andersonville.
As drama it's fairly straightforward, following a group of new arrivals through their first days in the camp to the time those few who survive leave, taking in many of the expected conventions of the prison movie en route - escape attempts, futile deaths, dashed hopes and a near-riot. At times it does threaten to turn into a Civil War version of a WW2 P.O.W. movie, but it's held back from the pitfalls of great escapism by the fact that where many of those films often naively showed German prison camps as virtual holiday camps where the inmates tried to escape almost as a game, Andersonville makes it clear that here attempting to escape is seen as the only alternative to dying in squalor and pain. While there are few surprises, it's executed with real conviction, Frankenheimer's superb direction complemented by excellent photography from Ric Waite and production design by Michael Z. Hanan. That said, it is annoying that Warners' DVD has been needlessly cropped from fullframe into 1.85:1 widescreen, a reverse cropping that is just as bad as panning-and-scanning widescreen films into fullframe. While most of the 167 minutes it's not too damaging, there are some close-ups that become way too tight at times, although it's generally only a momentary distraction.
Movie Review: Rule of Law determines whether a Soldier is a barbarous or civilized
Summary: 4 Stars
Defense argued, "Law does not exist in the Confederate prison. Therefore, the Raiders are not guilty of breaking any law", "these are desperate times and desperate measures are required to survive", "only rebel law applies in the prison". Outcries from other Union soldiers were heard, "we suffered the same hardships and did not yield to survival tactics. What about us?" Prosecution deflected the rebel law argument by appealing to justice stating there were certain rights and protections guaranteed to all men: 1. protection against murder 2. protection against theft. The military jury found the six Raider leader guilty and the punishment affixed as death by hanging. The union soldiers lived by law and law made the men civilized. Mob rule only works while the majority tolerates the theft; however, once intolerance levels are hit, a violent revolution transpires. The raiders could not fight the majority and probably would have all been murdered with out a trial. However, the majority gained their whit and requested and were granted a trial to prosecute the Raiders.
The "Great Escape" with McQueen probably took its plot from Andersonville. The story line had a ton of similarities.
Andersonville has a fair share of violence. At one point the directors portrays the prisoners as Zoombies, in the land, of the walking dead. Scurvy symptoms increased the graphic repulsiveness, in an attempt to balance the audience sympathy, abhorrence of the injustices, and despair of the troops. Heroism abounds, leaders reject traitorous offers to defect, form their regiment, about face, and march away from on looking Confederate Admiral making offer. Factually, 45,000 men were imprisoned and about 13,000 died from starvation, disease, and crime. Inhuman treatment of prisoner included lack of drinkable water, over crowding of the prisoners, no prisoner exchange, and looting. Andersonville has a fairly high entertainment value, as a civil war movie. The characters were passionate, compelling, and captivating.
Movie Review: Man's Indomitable Fight For Survival
Summary: 4 Stars
I have always been a fan of John Frankenheimer, and though his later efforts were not critically well-received, I believe it may be time for a reappraisal. I suggest Andersonville as a starting point.
I watched this film twice, before watching it again with Frankenheimer's commentary. It was like watching another movie. Listening to John (sadly, now deceased) discuss these young actors, and how he set up some of the shots -- many involving thousands of extras -- I came to deeply respect both John and this film.
Bear in mind that they had only sixty days to shoot this, and on a limited budget (and they lost several canisters of completed film and had to reassemble the cast and rebuild the set 9 months later!), and you come away deeply impressed with the artistry and efforts of all involved, particularly the costume and makeup folks who worked on this picture.
As John says, this film is not about war, but more about man's willingness to endure anything to survive. Several of the large-scene fight sequences are astonishing, as is the trial scene that vindicates and upholds the rule of law even in horrific conditions.
For me that is something that resonates and is instructive even today.