Gettysburg (2011)

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General		Extras
Category	Documentary	Trailer-x 2 but not for this film
Rating
Year Of Production	2011
Running Time	82:20
RSDL / Flipper	Dual Layered	Cast & Crew
Start Up	Ads Then Menu
Region Coding	1,2,3,4,5,6	Directed By	Adrian Moat
Studio Distributor	History Magna Home Entertainment	Starring	Richard Bedser Ed Fields Josh Artis Anton Blake Charles Klausmeyer Deborah Lettner Richard Lothian Johnny Ray Meeks Tyrel Meyer André Sogliuzzo
Case	?
RPI	$34.95	Music	Anthony Lledo Anthony Lledo Douglas Moxon

Video		Audio
Pan & Scan/Full Frame	None	English Dolby Digital 2.0 (192Kb/s)
Widescreen Aspect Ratio	1.78:1
16x9 Enhancement
Video Format	576i (PAL)
Original Aspect Ratio	1.78:1	Miscellaneous
Jacket Pictures	No
Subtitles	None	Smoking	No
		Annoying Product Placement	No
		Action In or After Credits	No

     In the summer of 1863, in the second year of the American Civil War, a Confederate army lead by General Robert E. Lee invaded the north seeking a decisive battle. At Gettysburg in Pennsylvania on the 1st, 2nd and 3rd July 1863 Lee’s army was defeated by the Union army commanded by General George Meade, ending perhaps the South’s best chance to win the war. Gettysburg (2011) is a History channel film featuring copious re-enactments, talking heads and some CGI and computer graphics. The first names on screen after the title are those of Executive Producers Ridley Scott and Tony Scott, which suggests that this TV documentary may be a little different.

     Gettysburg has received some criticism about factual inaccuracies – Stonewall Jackson was not Lee’s second in command before he was killed for example (it was Longstreet, who Lee had promoted one day before Jackson to make sure he was the senior Corps commander). But most of the angst seems to be about what is not covered in the documentary; there is nothing on Buford’s cavalry holding the high ground on the first day or the crucial battles on the Little Round Top or the Devil’s Den. There is also little sense of the strategy or tactics of the battle. Yet, it would be impossible to condense any comprehensive account of a three day battle into just over 80 minutes as this documentary does; for a more complete account and understanding of the battle try Ronald F. Maxwell’s 1993 film Gettysburg, which runs at 4 and a half hours and is both good history and good drama.

     What this new version of Gettysburg does is to concentrate on the stories of a handful of common soldiers who fought on both sides, privates, sergeants, lower ranked officers, plus a Confederate doctor and a Union woman caught in the town, to tell personal accounts of courage, heroism and loss; men such as Union Lieutenant Colonel Rufus Dawes or Sergeant Amos Humiston or Confederate Privates Joseph Lloyd or Ridgely Howard. This film is not about the top brass – Robert E. Lee never appears on screen nor does General George Pickett, although the charge of his brigades does, not surprisingly, feature, while the Union leader, General George Meade, appears only briefly. The film also takes an opportunity to briefly look at the rudimentary field hospitals at the time and the plight of the wounded men before the need for infection control was recognised.

     Gettysburg is held together by a hyperbole filled narration by Sam Rockwell which links the various re-enactments. According to the narration, Gettysburg is the western hemisphere battle with a lot of “mosts”; most number of cannons, most number of casualties, and I would be rich if I had $1 for every time the narrator solemnly says “ what happened next could change the course of the war”. There are also short interview segments with a diverse range of museum curators, historians, authors and serving military officers telling us how important the battle was. There are also some computer graphics showing the flight of bullets and the workings of the cannons of the time. However, most of the documentary consists of re-enactments with live action and some CGI where much of the footage is frenzied and jerky, using hand held cameras, quick cutting, smoke and explosions to give an immediate, chaotic feel; a bit like Black Hawk Down without the machinery.

     The concentration upon the stories of a few individuals means that the low budget and limited resources and manpower of this made for TV documentary can be masked by a focus on small numbers of men on screen, seen amid smoke, gunshots and canon explosions. This gives a tense, bloody and chaotic feel that works well enough in a popular history sense, where action is more important than understanding. So while Gettysburg is hardly a definitive account of the pivotal battle, it is historical entertainment for a video game generation which looks good and is interesting and tense enough.

Video

     Gettysburg is presented in an aspect ratio of 1.78:1, which looks to be the original ratio, and is 16x9 enhanced.

     This is an excellent print. The film has a deliberately desaturated look, meaning that colours look muted and washed out. However, the print is exceptionally sharp with excellent detail, solid blacks and great shadow detail. As in Saving Private Ryan or Black Hawk Down there is deliberate excessive grain in some sequences for effect. I did not notice any film or film to video artefacts.

     There are no subtitles.

Video Ratings Summary

Sharpness
Shadow Detail
Colour
Grain/Pixelization
Film-To-Video Artefacts
Film Artefacts
Overall

Audio

     Audio is English Dolby Digital 2.0 surround encoded at 192 Kbps. There are gunshots and cannon plus music in both centre and surrounds which works well enough despite the low bitrate. It is nothing special but does give an enveloping feel. Dialogue is non-existent but the narration is clear and easy to understand. Some bass was directed to my subwoofer to support music and explosions.

     As dialogue was mostly narration, lip synchronisation is not an issue.

     The original music by Anthony Lleod supported the film well without being distracting or memorable.

Audio Ratings Summary

Dialogue
Audio Sync
Clicks/Pops/Dropouts
Surround Channel Use
Subwoofer
Overall

     At start up we get trailers for America: The Story of the US and WWII: Lost Films (4:41 in total). These cannot be selected from the menu, which has only chapters and play.

     As far as I can see, the Region 1 US release is the same as ours. The Region 2 UK version is not due for release until July 2012.

    Gettysburg is a made for History channel documentary about the decisive 1863 Civil War battle. It features re-enactments, talking heads and some graphics and CGI. Gettysburg is hardly a definitive account of the pivotal battle, but it is historical entertainment for a video game generation which looks good and is interesting and tense enough.

     The video is very good, the audio reasonable for a TV production. There are no extras.

Video
Audio
Extras
Plot
Overall