Original year of release: 2011
Aside from movies like Cold Mountain, this grand slam production from the History Channel contains some of the most extensive, realistic, and guttural footage of what it is like to be in actual combat, during a war which claimed over 632,000 American lives.
Most of us who had lived through the heyday of Civil War reenactments (from the 1980's to the mid 2000's) are quite familiar with "combat footage" from historical documentaries. Most of these are scenes taken from annual living history events and they could not be as far from the truth as anything else. Basically several lines of guys in immaculate and well ironed uniforms marching up to each other in organized fashion, firing blank rounds from their rifled muskets far above the heads of the opposing ranks, while a commentator with a bullhorn announces the phases of the battle. This is perfect for educating schoolchildren on field trips and entertaining tourists out on the battlefield for a Sunday afternoon picnic...They do not portray the actual conditions of full scale engagements, some of which are large enough to involve 50,000+ casualties within a few days of fighting.
This particular documentary has truly knocked the ball out of the park with it's scale of production and bringing one of the most pivotal battles in history to life for what it was:
FULL FEATURE:
Aside from movies like Cold Mountain, this grand slam production from the History Channel contains some of the most extensive, realistic, and guttural footage of what it is like to be in actual combat, during a war which claimed over 632,000 American lives.
Most of us who had lived through the heyday of Civil War reenactments (from the 1980's to the mid 2000's) are quite familiar with "combat footage" from historical documentaries. Most of these are scenes taken from annual living history events and they could not be as far from the truth as anything else. Basically several lines of guys in immaculate and well ironed uniforms marching up to each other in organized fashion, firing blank rounds from their rifled muskets far above the heads of the opposing ranks, while a commentator with a bullhorn announces the phases of the battle. This is perfect for educating schoolchildren on field trips and entertaining tourists out on the battlefield for a Sunday afternoon picnic...They do not portray the actual conditions of full scale engagements, some of which are large enough to involve 50,000+ casualties within a few days of fighting.
This particular documentary has truly knocked the ball out of the park with it's scale of production and bringing one of the most pivotal battles in history to life for what it was:
FULL FEATURE:
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