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'Gods and Generals' boldly scorns 'Uncle Tom's Cabin Syndrome'

Date published: 3/5/2003

THE RECENT theatrical release of "Gods and Generals" marks a rare triumph for the modern film industry. The successful transition from book to silver screen is noteworthy not just for its cinematic virtues--which are plentiful--but for its fair presentation of the Confederate perspective in the War Between the States. It's about time.

Since Harriet Beecher Stowe's powerful but inflammatory work in "Uncle Tom's Cabin" in 1851, it has long been de rigueur in some circles to demonize Southerners as cruel, whip-flicking overseers, intent on preserving the institution of slavery. The film industry has all too often gleefully contributed to stereotypes of the most unfair sort--from "Deliverance" to "Mississippi Burning," Hollywood has spared no small expense to paint Southerners with the broadest and crudest of brushes.

"Gods and Generals" stands as a rarity among recent major releases. In the film, the real motivations of many Southerners to pick up arms, fight--and, in horribly large numbers, die--are honestly presented. Of course slavery was a brutal, major schism in America in the mid-19th century. But so were difficult concepts like states' rights--the guaranteed rights of people to keep as much power in their own hands as possible.

Southerners, at least, with their roots in the Constitution's very essence through such great Virginians as Madison, Monroe, and Jefferson, had not forgotten the mandate of the 10th Amendment--all powers not specifically vested in the central government are supposed to be reserved to the states, or to the people.

Small wonder, then, that men and women with that sort of collective memory saw Abraham Lincoln's call-up of 75,000 men to "put down a rebellion" as something to be met with determined opposition. In their minds, Southern secessionists were true patriots, supporting constitutional principles that had made America great among nations. As the film shows, they considered their actions the "second American revolution."

Understanding this mentality is what makes "Gods and Generals" a success. Recent literary works such as Charles Adams' "When in the Course of Human Events: Arguing the Case for Southern Secession," and Thomas DiLorenzo's "The Real Lincoln," also have contributed to a long overdue fairness in presenting both sides' perspectives.

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Date published: 3/5/2003