Ride With The Devil
"Ride With The Devil", with Skeet Ulrich, Tobey Maguire, Jewel Kilcher and Jeffrey Wright. Written by Daniel Woodrell, screenplay by James Schamus, directed by Ang Lee. MPAA rating R. Run time 139 minutes.
"Ride With The Devil" is the story of life on the Kansas-Missouri border early in the days of the Civil War, my nominee for the most inappropriately named war ever. Civil it wasn't, and "Ride With The Devil" points this out dramatically and with passion, but without ever glorifying or romanticizing war in general or the Civi War in particular. The Civil War is often treated in moovies as a sacred cow, with the Union Regulars in neatly pressed gold braided blues running roughshod over the tattered Grays of The Confederacy. The dichotomy of The Civil War was that there were no good guys and bad guys, instead there were only opposing political regimes bent on preserving what they believed to be right. This what wars are made of.
Director Ang Lee does a remarkable job recreating the highly charged conditions that set brother against brother without ever preaching about the conditions and politics that caused the bloody conflict. This is not "Sense and Sensibility", although Lee certainly brings his talent for period drama to the table in recreating Missouri in the 1860's.
Skeet Ulrich and Tobey Maguire, along with an excellent effort by Jeffrey Wright, provide the anchor for the story, and with the help of singer/songwriter/poet and now actor Jewel help bring the personal nature of the Civil War into sharp focus. Their performances are a bit ragged, sometimes flat in spots, and the plot is not entirely unpredictable, but the story is engaging and the characters (and their period dialogue) are believable. Considering the story, and the conditions portrayed, ragged may not necessarily be a bad thing. To my wholly untrained eye, "Ride With The Devil" also seems to be free of blatant anachronisms.
From the opening wedding and subsequent abolitionist raid at Lexington to Quantrill's 1863 burning of Lawrence, "Ride With The Devil" is an extraordinary look back into local history, and well worth the time spent in watching. It might give you something to think about while you're lazing in the sun.
"Ride With The Devil" gets four border state cows.
"Ride With The Devil" is the story of life on the Kansas-Missouri border early in the days of the Civil War, my nominee for the most inappropriately named war ever. Civil it wasn't, and "Ride With The Devil" points this out dramatically and with passion, but without ever glorifying or romanticizing war in general or the Civi War in particular. The Civil War is often treated in moovies as a sacred cow, with the Union Regulars in neatly pressed gold braided blues running roughshod over the tattered Grays of The Confederacy. The dichotomy of The Civil War was that there were no good guys and bad guys, instead there were only opposing political regimes bent on preserving what they believed to be right. This what wars are made of.
Director Ang Lee does a remarkable job recreating the highly charged conditions that set brother against brother without ever preaching about the conditions and politics that caused the bloody conflict. This is not "Sense and Sensibility", although Lee certainly brings his talent for period drama to the table in recreating Missouri in the 1860's.
Skeet Ulrich and Tobey Maguire, along with an excellent effort by Jeffrey Wright, provide the anchor for the story, and with the help of singer/songwriter/poet and now actor Jewel help bring the personal nature of the Civil War into sharp focus. Their performances are a bit ragged, sometimes flat in spots, and the plot is not entirely unpredictable, but the story is engaging and the characters (and their period dialogue) are believable. Considering the story, and the conditions portrayed, ragged may not necessarily be a bad thing. To my wholly untrained eye, "Ride With The Devil" also seems to be free of blatant anachronisms.
From the opening wedding and subsequent abolitionist raid at Lexington to Quantrill's 1863 burning of Lawrence, "Ride With The Devil" is an extraordinary look back into local history, and well worth the time spent in watching. It might give you something to think about while you're lazing in the sun.
"Ride With The Devil" gets four border state cows.
