At the end, I could weep no more.

I do not know how the eight others in the audience felt. I know that if I had seen "Gods and Generals" without first having read Thomas DiLorenzo's important works or Charles Adam's book, I would not have grieved so greatly. It would have been just another war film with conflicting opinions. "Maybe there can be two right sides," my pre-LRC mind might have concluded.

But LRC readers know the truth. The War Between the States was not necessary. The carnage at Manassas, Fredericksburg, Chancellorsville, and other hallowed ground was in vain. As Charles Adams points out, even European newspaper editors saw through Lincoln's naked aggression. Union armies crossed the Rubicon and did indeed lead to the fall of the Republic.

I imagine this will be the last week in the theaters for "Gods and Generals." If you do not see the carnage, the Christian conviction of Gen. Stonewall Jackson, and the horror of war on the big screen you will miss forever the full effect of this cinematic masterpiece.

Ron Maxwell, the film's writer, director, and producer, stated, “The suffering was beyond our reckoning. … The last thing the world needs is a mindless, glossy entertainment on the Civil War. None of us want that, so it is important to accept the seriousness of this challenge: to keep our eyes wide open, to be relentlessly honest, to refrain from perpetuating myth and folklore – to get to the truth of the matter. Nothing will be more dramatic and nothing will be more worthwhile.”

What action will come from having seen the film? What will you learn when you turn off the TV permanently? To shoot a rifle? To administer first aid and last rites? Will you study the arguments for the advantages of liberty, hard money, and states' rights? Will you urge your local elementary school to stop indoctrinating the halflings with the myth of Lincoln? (At the very least stop holding him up with George Washington.) Will you donate DiLorenzo's tome to the library and raise a stink when they refuse to shelve it?

An evening this week at the theater for 20 depreciating federal reserve notes is a small sacrifice compared to taking a .58 caliber Minnie-ball in the chest defending your home and hearth. The popcorn salt will indeed sting when brushing away your tears, but we all need to be reminded of the great cost of liberty.

One last minor point: Where are they raising the Union brigades to free the Christian slaves that exist today in Sudan? If it helps, I would be glad to assert there is oil somewhere over there.

March 17, 2003

     

The Best of Brian Heyer

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