Like father, like son. First, Michael Shaara’s “The Killer Angels” idolized Joshua Chamberlain and became the film “Gettysburg.” Now, son Jeff’s “Gods and Generals” becomes a 3 1/2-hour film of the same title and gives T.J. “Stonewall” Jackson the larger-than-life treatment. Here are but a few points of factual treason to note about “Gods and Generals”:
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– When soldiers get shot, some of them go flying back as if they’d been hit by a bus. Reality: Even at close range, small arms of the time didn’t have that kind of force.
– Jackson is shot, and one of his adjutants cites a smooth musket ball as evidence that a Confederacy soldier busted a cap in Stonewall. Reality: Given that both armies used similar weapons and nabbed rifles from the other side’s dead and wounded, it would have been impossible, short of a “Johnny Reb” monogram, to tell purely from the ammunition who shot whom. Perhaps this was inserted because it’s easier than explaining the fact that a skittish 18th North Carolina regiment, not knowing of Jackson’s group, fired into a group of soldiers who were riding toward them from the direction of the Union lines.
– Speaking of Johnny Reb, there is an exchange in the aftermath of battle, between a Union and a Confederate soldier who hail each other as “Johnny Reb” and “Billy Yank.” Reality: The terms didn’t come into use until after the war.
– In “Gods and Generals,” it was a pretty cool deal to be a slave, as the only ones we see are well-clothed and fed, mingling fearlessly with the white folks. Reality: Think about it.
– The heroic Jackson is imperturbable under fire. Reality: The general, often a petty, vindictive martinet (we don’t see that side of him here), was notoriously hard of hearing. What you don’t hear particularly well, can’t bother you too much.
– In the catch-as-catch-can world of relying upon Civil War re-enactors to fill the ranks of “Gods and Generals,” you see quite a few rather plump soldiers. Reality: During those days of stretched supply lines and forced marches, often on half rations, there weren’t many chubby infantrymen.