User Reviews

Brothers fight, and sometimes they kill. That is the sad comment on the civil war that had more than just slavery as an agenda. For a young country with only 70 years of presidents behind them, much drama and unrest had grown in a short period of time, and many different ideals were being fought for. This wasn't just through war. This was in individual communities, among family members, and within families, between fathers and sons.

There are many ironies in the arguments being made within communities, within families, and between fathers and sons. It's a community at war, those who support Abraham Lincoln's fight to emancipate the slaves and those opposed to his methods. Democrats argue against the Republicans, and vice versa, making statements quite timely today.

The beauty of the land long before highways and huge cities destroyed much of it is breathtaking, and the countryside of upstate New York state is breathtaking. Copoerheads, the phrase for anti-war believers, describes several of the main characters, passionate about their beliefs, feeling betrayed by their own families, yet considered traitors by their neighbors. It makes for great war drama, and turns this into another war between northerners living together, yet torn apart against the right of free speech and basic constitutional rights. Many of these issues are potent today as the land of the free finds itself divided once again.

Copperhead (2013): Dir: Ron Maxwell / Cast: Billy Campbell, Angus Macfadyen, Casey Thomas Brown, Lucy Boynton, Peter Fonda: Disappointing Civil War drama about how we label those whom do not share our views. It regards a feud between two families. We have a farmer, played by Billy Campbell who has two sons although one is all but neglected while the other disappoints him when he begins dating the daughter of his rival. It also doesn't help matter when this son rebels and heads off to fight in the war. Angus Macfadyen plays the rival, a preachy type who operates a factory that makes barrels. Casey Thomas Brown plays the older son of Campbell whose views differ from his father's, and Lucy Boynton plays his love interest whose father disapproves. This all sounds good accept that when a film is advertized as a Civil War film it should deliver something that resembles a war film. What director Ron Maxwell presents is a corny drama with lame romantic elements that have all the appeal of a bad TV movie. Maxwell previously made Gettysburg and Little Darlings and here he combines elements of both and fails miserably. The acting is atrocious with lines bellowed out like an attention yearning stage play. Even a veteran actor like Peter Fonda got sucked into this charade with little to do. The screenplay works, for the most part, up until the corny ending where everyone comes together with a lesson learned. The only lesson learned is viewers attended a film themed with "love thy neighbor" while wondering when the actual Civil War footage would emerge. Score: 4 / 10

To my recollection, this is the only Civil War movie I've seen to deal with the friction between Northern Union citizens with opposite views of the conflict. 'Copperheads' were Northerners who didn't support Abraham Lincoln's view of going to war to free the slaves. Technically, they WERE opposed to slavery, but were against war for any reason, while upholding a state's right to determine it's status for themselves. Additionally, the Copperheads felt that using force to prevent Southern states from seceding was unconstitutional. It seems kind of conflicted to me, since the idea of states seceding itself sounds unconstitutional, so I had to bring my focus back to those ideas whenever Abner Beech (Billy Campbell) found himself in opposition to his neighbors. Considering this is nominally a Civil War era movie, there's really no battle action at all, the story revolves primarily around the tension between neighbors with a sub-plot involving a romance between Abner Beech's son, Thomas Jefferson (Casey Thomas Brown), and Esther Hagadorn (Lucy Boynton), daughter of the town's firebrand abolitionist leader and supporter of Lincoln's policies. For a brief period, Tom goes missing following the battle of Antietam, having joined the Northern cause in opposition to his father. As the citizens anxiously await word on the fate of other boys who joined the War, Esther agonizes over her fiance's fate, while attempting to reconcile her position with the Beech family as well as her own father. The tenor of the story gives it a Hallmark, made for TV film, with the attendant focus on family values and trying to do the right thing. The film's resolution offers the feel good sensation that comes with Esther's brother Ni (Augustus Prew) admonishing the town folk from the pulpit for their bitterness toward each other. It all ties together rather neatly, except for the fact that at that point in time, the War still had two more years to go, with the same tensions that would have to be dealt with once this story was over.

Seeing the difference between how those acted who agreed or disagreed with the actions of the war was quite interesting to compare. Depending on how you felt also affected your interactions and feelings of others, which makes sense. But also then families had strict rules with interactions between children. Enlisting I'm the army was a common thing, but also heartbreaking to families during this war to see the goodbyes that took place was saddening, families, parents, significant others leaving. As many kids do, the child of the "Copperhead", rebels and joins the army. The differences between Democrats and republicans seem very extreme. After a devastating disaster and this time it wasn't the death of a soldier, the families become even more heartbroken. "War is a fever." The acting in this movie was well done and the setting fit well for the time period, also helped to better understand what was going on then. Living in Upstate New York, it's interesting to see what where I live might have looked like during the war. The music in the movie was an excellent representative of what Army bands played while marching. The storyline does not focus on the lives of the soldiers and the bloodiness of the war, but those at home, how the war affected the regular citizens, in the north.

what is Liberty? Lincoln Vampire Killer was a far superior movie to the overwrought Lincoln. The one feted by Hollywood and the Washington Know Nothings, politicians and their ilk. Django Unchained told home truths in a colorful language intolerable to some. Spike Lee can suck it and I'm not the only one who told him so. Copperhead is a rare glimpse into the real realm of liberty's forge in a way few have experienced it. As a proud New Yorker and American this July 4 I hope and wish you will see this truly amazing explication of US and how we came to be. Copperhead is a quiet and powerful story that has a depth that will over power you slowly yet completely.

It's certainly not a movie I'd recommend if it's your first Civil War movie. Start with a crowd pleaser like Glory instead. The movie has a lot to say about war and peace, but it's hardly a good introduction to anti-war movies. Start with a winner like Hacksaw Ridge instead. This movie isn't in the same league with either of those great war movies.

About the only other valid criticisms you could make are: 1) The first 3/4 of the movie is a bit slow moving, and could have been more dramatic. 2) The quality of the sound was a bit lacking, which is unfortunate when the use of dialect already makes the words a bit hard to follow.

As other reviewers have said, it's great especially because it's different from most Civil War movies, showing the way a war can tear a country apart almost as much on the home front as it does on the battlefield.

But part of the reason I loved it so much is that I find myself in agreement with the film's disparaged "Copperhead." While slavery is unbelievably cruel and inhumane, ending slavery in 1865 just wasn't worth the terribly high cost in blood. Brazil was the last country where slavery was legal in the Western Hemisphere, and they ended it in 1888. So even if the Civil War had never been fought, slavery in the South would almost certainly have ended by then anyway. If America had split into two countries, why would this have been so wrong? This is a controversial point of view -- then and now -- but I was pleased to see it argued with such conviction in a very watchable movie.

This is one of the most exquisitely beautiful, yet heart-wrenching films I have ever seen. I watched it initially because of Francois Arnaud as I had just finished The Borgias. The scenery is magnificent. Sadly, the sentiments within the village seem to mimic the happenings in the US these days - what happens when one group seems to think it has the right to suppress the thoughts and speech of another. To paraphrase a comment in the movie - There is the war you read about in the newspaper, and then there is the real war.

It centers on a small, upstate NY town at the early stages of the Civil War. I believe the director is the same as with Gettysburg and Gods and Generals, but it is not part of the trilogy. That said, if the Civil War interests you, it is a must see.