'An Analysis Of The Film Gettysburg'

Focusing on its namesake, Ronald F. Maxwell’s 1993 film Gettysburg is a four and a half hour cinematic experience. The writers and directors were well-intentioned by focusing on stratagem and the personalities of the key characters of the war, however, the film fell short of portraying the true carnage of and the national tragedy that was the Battle of Gettysburg. Perhaps the most engaging scene in this film took place on the second day of the Battle of Gettysburg. Left with very little ammunition and capping off the left edge of the Union forces at Little Round Top, the 20th Maine regiment prevents the Confederate army from flanking the Union forces by making the surprising decision to charge with bayonets. This scene is a good representation of the film as a whole. It illustrates quite well how this war was fought - not only in open fields, army-to-army, but also in the heavily forested regions. Soldiers were ill-equipped for this war, as illustrated by the 20th’s running out of ammunition in the middle of the Battle.

For example, the Confederacy’s failure to secure the high ground of Little Round Top and the surrounding ridges, which ultimately led to decimation and a failure by the Confederates to win the Battle of Gettysburg. To that same end, Gettysburg accurately shows that the Union recognized that Gettysburg would be a pivotal battle, and a subsequent fear of losing this battle led the Union armies to make bold, even rash decisions (the case of the 20th Maine, for instance) which ultimately gave them the edge and the literal high