Did anyone else see Ridley Scott's Gettysburg documentary last night?

[charlie and algernon]

It was on the History Channel as part of their "Civil War Week" this week.

What did you think?


I thought it was decent. It was certianly different than anything else that had been done on Gettysburg. It was presented like a movie as you followed soldiers and officers in individual units. It had some historians talking in between the action, but none of the BIG historians who usually do these types of documentaries. Hell, I think one the historians used was one of the "experts" that they use on Pawn Stars. That was a little wierd.

It was also a bit annoying when EVERY. SINGLE. ACTION. was THE action that could decide the entire fucking war. Ok, we get it, Gettysburg was damn important but the war didn't hinge on the actions of three or so different units when there was massive action going on all over the battlefield those three days.

I also noticed that they fell in to the trap of previous Civil War movies/documentaries by focusing mainly on Confederate Units and very little on Union units. I was also hoping to see any actual Gettysburg landmarks but alas, it was pretty obvious that not a single scene was shot anywhere near Gettysburg, but oh well. Obviously you can't film Pickett's Charge on location since there are a million and one monuments there now.

Overall, I thought it was decent. It won't become THE definitive Gettysburg movie/documentary, but it was still pretty cool.