A good movie

On one hand, I was quite eager to check this flick because it seems to have a pretty good reputation. On the other hand, with its running time of 270 minutes (it is officially the longest American film ever made), it was a rather daunting prospect. So, indeed, it is very long but I thought it went by pretty smoothly and it was definitely an interesting watch. Basically, the main goal of this production was accuracy and authenticity and since the battle of Gettysburg must be one of the best documented battles that ever took place, they made sure they had all the details right. In my opinion, the movie was divided in three type of scenes : the set-ups before attacking, the attacks themselves and some random conversations between the soldiers. It was a nice touch that they didn’t develop the background of the soldiers or got them involved in some annoying romance à la Pearl Harbor. On the downside, I noticed that it only focused on the officers, usually the generals, and they didn’t spend anytime with the common soldiers which was too bad in my opinion. Furthermore, the score was rather annoying and just way too repetitive for my taste. To conclude, even though it might not be a masterpiece, they will never be a better movie about this battle and I think it is worth a look, especially if you are interested by the subject.

7/10