What happens when those on opposing sides of an issue both believe they have the moral high ground and thus, in effect, claim to have God on their side? That question is at the heart of Gods and Generals, which chronicles the period from the beginning of the Civil War up through the spring of 1863, before the Battle of Gettysburg. Now here’s the gist of the question: the story is told primarily from the point of view of the South and is sympathetic in many ways to the southern cause. Ultimately, however, it comes down morally on the side of the North in its opposition to slavery. Who is right? Whose side is God on? We usually seek easy, black-and-white answers to questions like these, but here it’s not that simple.
Gods and Generals is the “prequel” to Gettysburg (released in 1993 and based on Michael Shaara’s Pulitzer-Prize-winning novel Killer Angels) and is chronologically the first in a trilogy of films dealing with the Civil War. Gods and Generals has three principal stars: Robert Duvall as General Robert E. Lee; Jeff Daniels as Lt. Col. Joshua Lawrence Chamberlain, of the North; and Stephen Lang as the southern general Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson.
All three principals are Christian men, and the amazing thing about this movie is the amount of reverence it shows for the Lord. Several characters pray often in heartfelt fashion, all the more surprising given that Gods and Generals is a Ted Turner production. The main character is Stonewall Jackson, with the story told largely from his viewpoint. Jackson is a quintessentially Christian man who is thoroughly grounded in scripture and consults the Lord in all that he does. Before the war he says his first allegiance is to God and the second to his state, Virginia. He loves the Union but will do whatever Virginia does. Once Virginia secedes, he opposes the Yankees with a vengeance. He believes that, slavery notwithstanding, the South is in the right, and he will do everything in his power to support southern independence and oppose northern tyranny. In one very moving speech as he is about to go into battle, Jackson says he is serene about the outcome, knowing that whatever happens will be God’s will.
Chamberlain, Jackson’s northern counterpart, is not nearly as flamboyant or interesting a character as Jackson, but he has the moral high ground. In one of his most important speeches he tells his aide not to call blacks “darkies” because that is a disparaging term from which Americans must free themselves. He goes on to say his southern counterparts have integrity in that they believe strongly in what they are doing. Nevertheless, he says, they are simply wrong. How can it be right to maintain a society in which one group of people is enslaved by the majority?
This clash between the sympathetic treatment of the South on the one hand and the moral exaltation of the North on the other provides the principal tension in the movie. At one point, Jackson compares the South’s battle against the North to David’s battle against Goliath. God was clearly on the side of David, but the analogy doesn't hold up. We can't forget that the North was the ultimate victor.
One particularly interesting feature of the film is that, in tune with its sympathy for the southern psyche, many disparaging comments are made about Abraham Lincoln and members of his administration. The tenor of those comments is a good deal like the political rhetoric we are hearing today. Time will reveal who was in the right.
Here’s a question: Why was Gods and Generals virtually ignored by the secular media on its release a year ago, while a year later The Passion of the Christ has established itself as a blockbuster? Has something radically changed in the last year? Are the differences due simply to marketing and the star power of Passion director Mel Gibson? The jury is out.
Gods and Generals was barely seen in theaters at all in 2003 but is now readily available on DVD. If you get a chance to see it on the big screen, I’d strongly recommend it. It’s rated PG-13 for “sustained battle scenes,” but most of the violence is simulated and certainly not gratuitous. The acting is uniformly excellent. There’s no profanity to speak of. It’s an excellent history lesson, and it honors the Lord. The only cautionary note is this: the movie is long — over 200 minutes -- so it might be best viewed in two or more sittings.
My Rating: 3 ½ stars.
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