Gods And Generals

Reviewed by EWAN MCDONALD

Herald rating: *

This epic documentary of the American Civil War was made for TV by Ted Turner for his own channel, and he makes a cameo appearance because you can't say no to the boss, lasts for nearly four hours and can only be described as boring.

It can also be described as badly acted, sentimental towards the South, obsessed with military strategy and trivia, and politically incorrect in the way that it has only two African-American speaking parts in a cast of thousands and dodges around the "S" word. Funny, I thought that the Civil War was pretty much about slavery.

DVD features: movie (219min); commentary by writer/director Ronald F. Maxwell and historical advisers, Colonel Keith Gibson and James I. Robertson Jr; 3 making-of documentaries: Journey to the Past — the African-American slave experience in the era; The Life of Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson; The Authenticities of the Film, about the movie's painstaking recreations of events; 2 music videos: Bob Dylan, Cross The Green Mountain; Mary Fahl, Going Home.

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