The Confederate

Christopher Forbes would, in a more civilized world of more reason and knowledge, be called a renaissance man: He does it all, including writing, acting, even scoring.

As a director, he gets some great shots, with impressive framing and angles, but, alas, too many of his actors really aren't.

His leading lady here, Heather Clark, is an exception. She has some talent, probably some training, and looks believable on camera.

Some carp that she is not a believable boy, but in those circumstances she could have been accepted as a young boy. Other than her very pretty face, her female attributes are hidden by her clothes.

Writer Forbes, about whom I can find no information, seems to know his history. But I have one carp about the reference to that horrible prisoner of war camp, Andersonville.

There is a somewhat vague reference to an attempted raid that would have freed the Yankee prisoners from that obscenely over-crowded prison. "General Sherman" tells his subordinate general he expects that some of the freed prisoners would be able to re-enter the fighting units.

The commander of that camp was hanged by the vengeful Yankees after the war but, in fact, the Confederate government had tried and tried to effect a prisoner exchange, and the federals kept saying no. They wanted their own people to suffer, to be kept penned up, hungry and without medical care. If they had agreed to the exchange, it would have saved a lot of lives of their own soldiers but it would have eased some of the strain on the Confederacy -- caused by both Sherman's and Sheridan's hordes rampaging through Southern farms and destroying homes and crops.

Naturally those facts are not widely taught in government schools, so it would be nice to see them spelled out in movies about that conflict. (Federal treatment of Confederate prisoners was often nearly as bad, with very shortened rations and missing or poor medial care. Also, prisoners were outright murdered, especially after the assassination of Lincoln. Also not widely taught in government schools.)

Still, I give writer Forbes a lot of credit and I hope to be able to see the other films he has created.

And I hope he gets the recognition he deserves so he can also get the budgets he deserves.

At times the acting was okay. Most was VERY wooden. Watched to the end because plot was interesting.

This film begins in Georgia during the Civil War with a young woman by the name of "Willa Randall" (Heather Clark) having to take care of her alcoholic father "Jesse Randall" (James Holmes) due to the death of her mother and brother. Although her father insists on her marrying a rich man named "Major Edgar Dodds" (Dave Long) who lives on a plantation nearby, she is adamantly opposed to the idea due in large part to his sadistic and cruel behavior. Then one night, when her father is passed out from drinking too much alcohol, things finally come to a head when Edgar enters her bedroom and tries to rape her. Barely managing to escape, she cuts her hair and finds protection by dressing up as a man and joining a nearby cavalry regiment. The problem, of course, is not only surviving combat against Union forces but also keeping her gender secret from all of the other men she is in close contact with. Meanwhile, Major Edgar Dodds is determined to find her and will leave no stone unturned until he does. Now, rather than reveal any more, I will just say that this film had a number of major flaws which were too obvious to be ignored. For starters, other than possibly both Heather Clark and Tripp Courtney (as "Captain Jefferson Spencer") I thought that overall acting was quite poor. Having said that, I fully understand that many of the performers were not professional actors. Even so, that doesn't mean that the overall acting in a movie doesn't matter. It does. Likewise, despite my opinion that Heather Clark performed adequately enough, I'm not sure that she was the best choice for that particular role as she was much too pretty for the part and even the bulky Confederate uniform couldn't hide her features that well. I don't know, maybe a better makeup artist or costume designer could have resolved this issue to a certain degree. But then, low-budget productions like this often encounter problems of this nature. Same thing with the cheap sets and poor dialogue. Be that as may, although I actually liked the overall plot, the faults I just mentioned were simply too obvious and in good conscience I cannot rate this movie any higher than I have.

It is a movie starring re-enactors...............perhaps as some of the other reviews say not great acting.............but made by people who go out there and keep the history alive.

That being said, a cohesive story - plot easy enough to follow that gives you the end you want..........and, if you re-enact or have seen re-enactments, then realize these people probably didn't go to a prop department - they supplied their own gear. Personally, I found it enjoyable.

It's a B movie without any known actors, but it was good enough that I finished it and would recommend it to any Civil War Buff. I've discovered many hidden gems thanks to Tubi TV. I've changed the channel on many A rated movies. Give it a try, you will be pleasantly suprised.