Review of DVD "Gettysburg"


Review of the DVD Gettysburg starring Tom Berenger, Jeff Daniels, and Martin Sheen
As I write this it is Memorial Day and I am thinking of the innumerable men and women who through our two hundred and forty-four year history made the ultimate sacrifice so that we, the American people, might enjoy the many freedoms afforded us by our constitution.  I wanted to bring this home to my two young daughters during this period of “Covid-19 sheltering in place” by having them sit down with their dear, old dad and watch the DVD Gettysburg.  I lost them after the first skirmish, but I really like this DVD.  For me it brings to life one of the most pivotal battles of the Civil War and humanizes that entire conflict.
We know the names.  Robert E. Lee.  George Meade.  Longstreet.  Pickett.  Buford.  Hancock.  We have heard of the significant sites.  Little Round Top.  Cemetery Ridge.  Devil’s Den.  But what this movie does more than any book or historical narrative is remind the viewer that these foes were once compatriots and for some dear, dear friends.  They knew each other well.  They had befriended one another.  Many of these generals had been classmates at West Point.  They fought side by side during the Mexican War.  Some were best men at each other’s weddings.  And now they stood opposite each other on the field of battle, hoping, praying that somehow each would survive the days’ bloodletting and enjoy each other’s companionship once peace was restored. 
There were fifty thousand casualties at Gettysburg.  A staggering number.  Almost equal to the total number of US forces killed in the entire Viet Nam War.  But for me the sadness of it all is brought home as General Armistead lies mortally wounded and grieves the prospect that his dear friend General Hancock has also been wounded and may be dying.  “Not both of us,” he laments, “Dear God, not both of us.”
Maybe the film Gettysburg will not hold the interest of a fourteen or a ten-year-old, but this old guy found it incredibly moving while serving as a vivid reminder of the human capital for liberty.
Reviewed by Richard Dick, Library Assistant at O’Kelly Memorial Library


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