Just what I expected

While it is a pity that the story wasn't told with more visual finesse, this is trivial compared to our real-world problems. It takes a good movie to put that into perspective.

Exactly the movie you think it is, but not the movie you want it to be.

Blistering performances.

35% - The filmmakers fanboy-ing over their fantasy iteration of Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson. His demise marks the end of the film.35% - Blatantly revisionist 'Lost Cause' propaganda masquerading as 'history'. Depicts blacks in the confederacy as a collection of Uncle Remus and Aunt Jemima characters serving the cause of their own free will. Shows only major battles which were counted as confederate victories (completely ignores the Battle of Shiloh).10% - A subplot involving two stage actors mostly so the film-makers can allude to President Lincoln's assassination, includes a particular lurid performance of the murder scene from Shakespeare's Julius Caesar.20% - Only this part is a true prequel to 'Gettysburg'; shows the pre-Gettysburg story of the 20th Maine and Colonel Joshua Chamberlain, including their decimation at the Battle of Fredricksburg**tl;dr** 80% pro-confederate Hogwash; go re-watch 'Gettysburg' instead

This movie must have been one of the most tedious pieces of whitewashing cinematography, which is an insult to all those who died and suffered in the US Civil War. One of the biggest cringe worthy character in the whole movie was the bible thumping, self-righteous maniac "Stonewall Jackson". Most obvious miss representation of the whole war was with the "Cook" he accepts in his service and all the lines that "Cook" had to say. I believe that the said movies should be remade by Spielberg and Hanks, now that would be one hell of a history lesson with way less whitewashing. There were too many speeches to justify the cause, be that of the North or South. However, speeches of the South were true, in your face, whitewashing bull and cow dung.

In general, this was a nicely done Civil War film. In a somewhat unusual plot, the South is not shown as a rebellious people, but rather a group of prideful men fighting to protect their homes and families. The movie shows several battles that occurred in the South, all of which were won by the South. However, it does not promote the idea of slavery. At several points, different characters on both sides denounce slavery. The movie does a good job at letting us see the humane side of southerners. It mainly follows Confederate General Jackson and his life during the early stages of the Civil War. Through his encounters with his wife, and a touching friendship with a young girl, we are able to watch and understand that these people had private lives away from the camps and battlefields. Finally, the movie shows the importance of religion on both sides. God is used to explain some of the horrors of the war, as shown in the repeated use of the phrase "Thy will be done," and in some cases, it was the only thing that gave men the courage to fight. The prominence of religion is accurate for this time period. The only downside to the movie is its length. The battle scenes, although engaging, were somewhat uninteresting due to the lack of emotional attachment to the characters actually doing the fighting.

Just sometimes critics get it completely wrong. This film is one such instance of that. I guess a well made Civil War epic with astounding acting, well put together convincing battle scenes. Accurate uniforms and weapons and a film which takes full advantage of it's budget etc counts as bad these days. Personally as a historian and someone who enjoys long epics I was invested in this one. To me it is more of a character study of General Thomas "Stonewall" Jackson and his actions as a Confederate officer than a war film. This film has all the tropes which makes a great war film of course but I never really knew who the man Jackson was, just what he did as a General. I'm glad this film was made because it gave me an insight into the man's psyche, someone here said Stephen Lang deserved an Oscar nomination for Best Actor and I agree. I do prefer Ronald F. Maxwell's other epic Gettysburg but taken on it's own Gods and Generals is still worth sitting through despite its four hour running time. I want to see Maxwell's proposed third installment in his trilogy The Last Full Measure and I think people will agree with me the audience is there and want to see it get done. God's and Generals is criminally underrated and one which critics missed the mark on.Solid 10/10