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Gettysburg Movie Analysis

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Gettysburg
Perhaps one of the greatest civil war movies created, Gettysburg, an epic war film, which truly portrayed the brutality of one of the bloodiest wars ever conducted on American soil. The battle that played out in Gettysburg truly depicts how great the struggle was between the Confederacy and the Union. The movie gives us heavy insight into what occurred on the Battle of Gettysburg from both viewpoints. Set during the American Civil war, the movie centers on the 3-day battle of Gettysburg from July 1st-3rd, 1863. The movie begins with the confederate army commanded by General Robert E. Lee crossing the Potomac River to invade the North in June of 1863. General Robert E. Lee locates the Union's position near Gettysburg and decides to …show more content…

Filmed in 1993, the movie properly shows each side of the battle, giving us a whole new look and respect for the men that lost their lives in one of the deadliest battles in the civil war. The film starts off with Harrison a spy for Confederate General Longstreet reports with information of the Union army’s positions. Longstreet with this information quickly goes to General Lee's headquarters to inform him of their position. During this time, they also learn that the current General of the Union army has been replaced by General Meade and decide to deploy the confederate army to Gettysburg in the dawn. Union Colonel Chamberlain, leader of the 20th Maine, is ordered to take in 120 men who are sick of the war after being in multiple engagements. These men believe that the current Union army leaders will not be able to win this war, showing that the morale is low for the Union army. The soldiers now believe if the Union army loses this upcoming battle they will lose the war. Union General Buford spots the Confederate army on the move and realizes that they are deploying a massive force, he decides to set up west of Gettysburg on Chamburg Pike in order to slow their advance and buy …show more content…

It also shows how the Generals and Colonels valiant bravery gave the Union the advantage in this 3-day battle over Gettysburg. This movie shows us how great the struggle was for both sides in the war. Although a great movie, it is not without its flaws, the film was very long and drawn out resulting in over 4 hours of screen time. If a few scenes were cut out, this movie would have been an even more brilliant portrayal of the battle of Gettysburg. The movie is brought together by the great acting of Tom Berenger as General Longstreet, Jeff Daniels as Colonel Chamberlain, and Martin Sheen as Robert E. Lee. They truly capture the character's essence and emotions at the time of the battle. The director Ronald F. Maxwell truly gives us a very accurate detail of what happened during the battle of Gettysburg, the command orders, the thoughts and reasons for certain calls, along with the strategies being very accurately depicted. The movie also accurately shows what the clothing would be like at the time of the battle along with the structure and look of the props. In order to capture the full essence of the battle, Maxwell filmed at the actual Gettysburg location making us feel as if we have time travelled to the past and watching this battle from

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The picture above is a depiction of LTC Joshua Chamberlain and the 20th Maine at the Battle of Little Round Top. In late June of 1863, the Confederate Army under General Robert E. Lee was massing near Gettysburg, PA. Gettysburg would arguably become the key battle of the Civil War. It was the pivotal moment where momentum in the war would change. It was the bloodiest battle of the entire war.

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1103 Words | 5 Pages

The first two days of the battle were fought mostly on the flanks of the union army and on the left flank was Chamberlin. He was the reason that the union had not been obliterated the second day so as a reward he was moved to the middle of the army where it was believed to be safe and there was supposed to be little or no fighting. Ironically that was where all the fighting was the last day. General lee thought that since he had attacked the flank the previous day that he would concentrate most of his forces on the middle which was very costly. In Pickett’s Charge the confederates are forced to retreat after enormous

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679 Words | 3 Pages

In the book, Michael Shaara provides an account of the four most important days during Battle of Gettysburg where he details its features and characterizations of key characters such as Pickett, Buford, Lee, Longstreet, and Hancock. He describes the events of June 1863 when the troops of both the Confederacy

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With the troops of the Union and Confederate army both in Gettysburg the fight begins, on the first day the Union retreats into nearby hills and Buford is blamed for what happened that day. The Confederate army wants to attack both of the Unions flanks to weaken them in spite of what Longstreet wants. They compromise and Longstreet agrees to attack the left side and the result is a complete bloodbath on both sides of the flank. Chamberlain finally makes it to Gettysburg with his regiment and is told that he is not allowed to retreat and will attack no matter what. July 3rd

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310 Words | 2 Pages

The Battle of Gettysburg was July 1 - July 3, 1863 in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania. The Battle of Gettysburg was a game changer in the Civil War for 3 reasons: the geography, morale, and losses. The first reason Gettysburg was a turning point-or game changer- was because the Confederates lost a lot of men. The Confederates lost about 34% of their men (Document B.)

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The film opens with a scene portraying the Battle of Antietam where Union soldiers are being led by Captain Robert Gould Shaw, played by Matthew Broderick. This battle took

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1009 Words | 5 Pages

As Lee arrives and orders his men to attack, the Union keeps coming as his men are being killed off. He is forced to retreat and day one of the battle comes to an

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409 Words | 2 Pages

The battle was fought from July 1 to July 3, 1863. Gettysburg Battle had happened because of General Robert E. Lee who began a second invasion of the North when he crossed into Pennsylvania. This was the second invasion because

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622 Words | 3 Pages

Chamberlain encounters an escaped slave, which prompts him to think about the cause of the war and what they are truly fighting for. Meanwhile, Lee and Longstreet argue over their strategy and methods of attacking the Union line - eventually agreeing on attacking the left flank, which results in major casualties on both sides. Knowing both flanks of the Union army have been weakened, Lee decides to hone in on the middle and split the army in two. July 3rd comes and Lee remains intent on attacking the Union army, regardless of Longstreet’s pleas to retreat and swing back to Washington, D.C as he feels Lee’s plan will ultimately fail. With General George Pickett in charge of the assault, the Confederates begin their attack with an artillery barrage in order to weaken Union artillery.

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Gettysburg (1993) eventually became difficult to sit through. The movie started off strong and fell short as the production dragged on for a duration of four-and-one-quarter hours, following a story that spans a full three days, and aligning with the plot line of the book The Killer Angels, by Michael Shaara. From the beginning, Gettysburg makes a point to align itself with factual historical figures, but misrepresents or ignores some important aspects of the real happenings from which it claims to draw source. The film spans three days revolving around The Battle of Gettysburg: focusing on the viewpoints from John Buford (Sam Elliot), Joshua Chamberlain (Jeff Daniels), and James Longstreet (Tom Berenger).

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The Battle was fought on July 1-3, 1863 near and in the small Pennsylvanian town of Gettysburg. This Battle involved the most amount of casualties in the entire Civil War. The Union had both Generals George G. Meade and John F. Reynolds while the south only had Robert E. Lee as their commanding general. Small groups of both of the armies found each other at Gettysburg on July 1st. When news made it back to General Lee, in just a matter of hours, Lee moved a large sum of his troops to attack the Union head on.

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The Battle of Gettysburg was a three day fight in which an estimate of 51,000 soldiers were killed in total, but besides all of the casualties, what else makes this battle special? The Battle of Gettysburg was a huge factor in the abolishment of slavery. It is one of the most important battles because it created new war strategies and was the turning point in the Civil War, which led to the Gettysburg Address. The Confederate general, Robert E. Lee, was very confident because of his army utmost victory.

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Lee began his campaign on June 3, 1863. It aided in the leading of the Battle of Gettysburg because in the early events of the war, the Union authorities were in the dark when it came to Lee’s intentions. When Hooker got word that Confederate troops were collecting about 25 miles northwest of Fredericksburg, he reacted. Hooker called 7,000 of his troopers and 3,000 of his best foot soldiers and gave the orders to “disperse and destroy.” This acted as the first and only offensive that Hooker launched during Lee’s invasion.

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This took place on the hills south of Gettysburg where the Union successfully held their ground. On the second day they continued the battle where the Confederates gained very little ground but not enough to change the war involving 100, 000 soldiers and with 20,000 killed or injured. It was the final day where the Confederates took a full assault with 12,000 confederates known as Pickett’s Charge which was a center line attacked against the Union. The Union held their ground using artillery fire and rifles which led to retreat of the confederates while successfully pushing them back south.

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Gettysburg Speech In 2000 at Gettysburg, Coach Herman Boone presented his football team with a heartwarming, pathos speech about a historical war event to cause his players to fathom the importance of acting as a team. Coach Boone’s Gettysburg speech was a mesmeric allusion to President Lincoln’s famous dedication, and provoked a comparison between one of the hardest fought battles of the civil war and the need for teamwork. His morning practice speech is meant to inspire by arousing images, to appeal to their emotions, on the consecrated field of one of the most difficult times in American History. “Anybody know what this place is?”

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