Hair and beards

Three weeks ago I happened upon the movie Gettysburg, and decided to watch the first hour. Well, the movie is about three and a half hours long, and once I started watching it I wanted to finish it. I didn't that night, but I did get it from QBPL, and watched the last two hours.

Tom Berenger and Jeff Daniels were great. Martin Sheen had the thankless task of playing an idealized Robert Lee. All three of them, and many others, suffered from having to wear ridiculous hair on their heads and faces. I mean, my goodness, Hollywood can create alternate universes and impressive flying objects, blue beings and all sorts of superheroes with impressive skill sets and great costumes, but a decent beard? Apparently not.

The film is from 1993. The dialogue is from a plethora of books imagined to know what was said in 1863. It doesn't hold up very well. Of course it's my opinion; this is my blog. Lee is portrayed as some sort of spiritualist, and seems ridiculous. I do believe I read and/or heard every line of his dialogue in my years as a Civil War buff.

Robert E. Lee was a traitor to his country. So were Longstreet and Hill and Hood. At least Longstreet had the good sense to reform himself. Of course, that made him a traitor to the people who continued to believe in the purity of their cause: upholding slavery and feudalism under the guide of states rights.

We should move onto the XXIst century, all of us. Of course, some don't agree. They think Jefferson Davis was a patriot, some do. Factually, they're wrong. But one can take a horse to water ...