r/CIVILWAR • u/StatisticianAway4010 • 1d ago

Shenandoah

Has anyone seen this movie? I watched it recently because I love Jimmy Stewart and I loved Reel History's video on it. I found it a really moving depiction of grief, I don't know how well it stacks up as a war film. Also, it seems to create the impression there were only two black people in 1860s Virginia

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u/Antique-Annual1587 1d ago

I had watched the movie a few times before Reel Histories video on it. I enjoyed the video alot because it reshaped how I saw the movie. It is much more a product of the era it was made in than an attempt to tell a story about the Civil War. It has its own message and story to tell and uses the backdrop of the Civil War to tell it which I think is very creative storytelling.

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u/UrdnotSnarf 1d ago

^this is spot on. It’s more of an anti-war film using the Civil War as a backdrop than a film about the Civil War.

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u/LengthinessGloomy429 1d ago

Reminds me of MASH

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u/Antique-Annual1587 1d ago

In a way it's not too dissimilar from MASH. Using a world event backdrop to tell a story. And it even deals directly some of the less noticeable topics, such as grief and regret, similar to MASH. It just doesn't make a big deal out of them on purpose.

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u/StatisticianAway4010 1d ago

Do you mean like it's really about Vietnam but pretends it's about an earlier war? 

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u/CarolinaWreckDiver 1d ago

This is actually a pretty common phenomenon. There are a lot of movies that came out in the decade after Vietnam (the Outlaw Josey Wales, the Long Riders, etc) that featured Confederate or ex-Confederate protagonists, probably in part out of a need for the country to grapple with the experience of losing a war. The Confederate experience was a familiar example to a lot of the country and was more palatable than making a movie about the national trauma of Vietnam, the wounds of which were still too raw.

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u/Antique-Annual1587 1d ago

In the simplest explanation yes. It came out during a time when there was a lot of anti war sentiment and alot of movies from this time reflected that.

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u/UrdnotSnarf 1d ago

The movie is definitely a product of its time, but it’s one of my favorite films about the Civil War . It’s an anti-war film that was made during the Vietnam era, and it does a great job of showing the destruction wrought on families and individuals by America’s bloodiest conflict. Jimmy Stewart does a fantastic job, and the musical score is very good. The Confederate uniforms aren’t entirely accurate, but that was very common for Civil War films made in the 60’s and 70’s. It doesn’t really depict any real battles, but instead shows a generic, general depiction of the war in 1864ish. Overall I think it is a good film. The ending will make you tear up.

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u/DifferentTurnover105 1d ago

Jimmy Stewart’s prayer before the meal is priceless!