There have been two other honest films dealing with our terrible war against ourselves. By honest I mean these films show a detailed look at aspects of that conflict that were not glorious and noble or patrioticly stirring.

"Ride with the Devil" starring Skeet Ulrich, Toby McGuire and Jewel and directed by Ang Lee ("The Ice Storm", "Sense and Sensibility", "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon") a gritty film about the vicious guerilla war of western Missouri/eastern Kansas.

"Pharoh's Army" starring Chris Cooper, Kris Kristofferson and Patricia Clarkson and directed by Robby Henson. A retelling of actual events in a southern Kentucky "holler" when a young woman's small farm is taken over by a patrol of five Union Army "scroungers" seeking food and supplies for their troop.

"Cold Mountain" can match the creativity and drama of the first two films easily. I believe that the three, taken in sequence, portray what that war was truly like in an honest and unflinching examination of it's tragedy and terror.

We killed well over half a million of our citizens and wounded, maimed, and left scarred forever, a million or more.

I am pleased to see directors willing to present these dramatic tales at last.

Perhaps they will eventually supplant the moronic histodramas like "Gone With The Wind" and the overblown guts and glory "epics" like "Gettysburg" (which seemed interminable).


CB