Civil War in America - Movie Review Example

Civil War Civil war in America was fought between 1861-1865 following the disputed election of Abraham Lincoln as president. The war was between the Northern State who were opposed to slavery and the Southern States, which did not want to see the end of slavery in their state. The war was fought maily at the Southern States, which also lead to the secession and formation of the Confederate State of America. The call for secession was rejected in totality by the slave States and the president, which in turn lead to the civil war. In the end in 1865, the confederate state surrendered marking the end of the civil war with many lives lost. Many movies based on the civil war in the United States of America have been written to dramatize and teach on the effects of civil war in America. Shenandoah film is one such movies based on civil war in the United States. Shenandoah is a movie on the civil war in America, done by James Stewart, Doug McClure, Glenn Corbett, Patrick Wayne, and Katharine Ross and directed by Andrew Mclaglen in 1965.The movie was done in the Virginia state during civil war. In this movie, the director shows how a planter in Virginia state who was unwilling to join the civil war was forced to participate in the war between the Union soldiers and the Confederate armies, by the capturing of his son by the Union Soldiers at the river banks during their attempt to recruit more soldier to their side. This family is portrayed as peace loving and did not want to engage in the war unless it concerned them. In writing this movie, Stewart intended to teach that war is not the best way of solving grievances and political differences. The reason for participating in war must first be established and should not be based on political propaganda, as was seen between the Southern and the Northern States. His anti war sentiments in this movie was however different in some squatters as there was a belief in America, that for Union to exist among different people, it had to be fought for and won ( Warren 5). This belief certainly is what lead to civil war in America due the fight for control of the country. Despite the farmer’s opposition of his family engaging in the war according to this movie, we find them being forced to participate after the capturing of their 16 year old son by the Union soldiers. This forced the family to begin the search of their son as he is seen going even the prison in search of their captured son. In the event he finds himself engaged in the war, however he did not take sides in this war. This shows that one may get engaged in something like warfare against his wish due to factors beyond his control, as this family did not want to engage in the war until it concerns them. Just as during civil war not everybody wanted to participate but were forced by other factors other than those of proponents of the war. According to Warren (1998), it is the civil war that destroyed the Americas dream of living in harmony as brothers and sisters without discrimination based on race, color, gender, or nationality. The movie, shows us that, after the capture of Charlie’s son, we find him engaging in a such at the prison of the Union soldiers but all are in vein as he could not find his son. The movie also shows us that the boy had been shot in the leg with his friend being killed in the process. This shows the extent to which the civil war lead to many deaths in the United States. It is also interesting, to find that the young white man dressed in a confederate cap, just for fun being captured and taken to prison with his black counterpart being set free. Later on we find the two young men re-uniting in the battlefield fighting on the opposing sides. This is the kind of scenario that was witnessed during the civil war in the United States, as the war was mainly fought between the blacks who were perceived as slaves and the whites and was “ the most violent and fateful experience” (McPherson 9). This was because the minority groups in America in The Slave states felt that they were being oppressed, and were being subjected to unfair treatment. During the civil war in the United States, many people were taken as prisoners of war as the movie depicts of the imprisonment of Charlies son. His Youngest son is taken to prison and his friend is later killed. It is also described as one of the America`s bloodiest war in history as many people were killed ( Tim 1). We are also told in this movie of how those who were left at the farm, James and Ann succumbed to death at the hands of soldiers. Charlie proceeds with the journey and meets a boy aged sixteen, he stops and tells him that he wants him to live long and one day have children since he did not want to kill him just as he did not want to see that his youngest son getting killed. This shows how Charlie has a humanitarian thinking as opposed to the merciless killings witnessed during the civil war in the United States. According to Stewart, in the movie, all the discussions around the dinner table is certainly based on the moral issues that the United States had been lackig. We find one of Charlie’s son’s arguments on the question on his desire to own slaves, but he gives an account that he is getting into the war because he has a reason for it. This reason for getting to the war was meant to save one of their family members who had been captured by the Union soldiers. Just like the Civil war, the confederate argued that their reason for going to war was because they were opposed to the abolition of slavery by the president.( Bernath 295) The movie also portrays the farmer as someone who can not easily be compromised. This is seen in his objection of some of his family members to join the war. He advises them and tells them not to get into matters which does not concern them. In this regard, the writer expected each and everyone in the society to be making sound decisions, which are not regrettable by engaging only on those matters that concern them. This is to show that the civil war had no striong backing reasons as it appeared to have been politically motivated, based on race and political affiliation between Democrats and the Republican. After the end of the civil war in 1865 in the United States with the surrender of the confederate state, devastating effects were left behind as many soldiers were dead. It was estimated that over 620,000 soldiers were killed. This shows how fateful the war was, just as the farmer also found some of his family members fatefully killed by the scavengers and the looters. The American people have therefore, learnt a lot from this movie apart from entertaining the audience. It teaches of the importance of having peace loving citizens just as the farmer and his family was. It also teaches on the importance of family values as most of the discussions in this movie is done a round dinner table where the head of the family teaches his family on the family values. This is portrayed when he cautions his family against engaging in a war that does not concern them. Work Cited Bernath, Michael. Confederate minds: the struggle for intellectual independence. Running Press. 2010. McPherson, James. The Atlas of Civil War. Running Press. 2005. Tim, Mc Neese. Americas Civil War. Infobase Publishing. 2009. Warren, Penn. The legacy of the Civil War. University of Nebraska Press, 1998 Read More