Cleveronix
A different way of telling a story
Ketrivie
It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.
SnoopyStyle
Jake Roedel (Tobey Maguire) and Jack Bull Chiles (Skeet Ulrich) are friends in Missouri. Before the Civil War starts, Jack's father is killed by Jayhawkers. During the war, Jake and Jack have joined up with Black John (Jim Caviezel) and his band of Bushwhackers. The group includes Pitt Mackeson (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) who has it in for Jake from an Union Dutch family, George Clyde (Simon Baker) and his trusted negro companion Daniel Holt (Jeffrey Wright). They are helped by widow Sue Lee Shelley (Jewel).This movie captures the familiar close knit nature of this Civil War backwaters. It is not a thrill a minute. When the violence comes, it is brutal and uncompromising. It is the cross current that most fascinates me. There are some heroes but not everyone act heroically. The moral murkiness is the most compelling part of the movie. This gets across a feeling of Band of Brothers. The Lawrence Kansas raid is amazing but that's the exception. This is a morally complicated conflict brought to life. There is no easy patriotism here. "It ain't right and it ain't wrong. It just is."
tieman64
"People know what they do; frequently they know why they do what they do; but what they don't know is what what they do does." ― Michel Foucault (Madness and Civilization) Offering an interesting perspective on the American Civil War, Ang Lee's "Ride with the Devil" stars Tobey Maguire as Jack Roedel, a young man who joins a Southern militia and subsequently launches a series of guerrilla attacks upon Northern soldiers and sympathisers.Lee's films often feature characters who rebel against assigned roles or who struggle to break free of social constrictions. In "Devil", Roedel's a soft-spoken, timid kid who seems to want no part in the erupting Civil War. Indeed, it is only in response to the violence committed by Unionists, and the peer-pressure exerted by fellow Southerners, that Roedel takes up a sixshooter and starts killing Bluecoats. Like the hero of Lee's "Hulk", Roedel essentially morphs from a man to a beast, a six-shooter equipped Bushwacker who kills without batting an eyelid. What's odd about "Devil", though, is the subtly at which these changes occur. As the film progresses, Roedel shifts from a genteel kid to a killer and then back to a genteel family man. Similarly, a character called Daniel Holt (Jeffrey Wright) shifts from an outright slave to a man bound to an unspoken life-bond and finally to a free African American. Throughout the first half of "Devil", Holt is virtually invisible. And when he is addressed, it is often indirectly or in the form of a racial slur. Gradually, however, Lee brings Holt to the forefront of his picture. Holt questions why he is fighting for segregationists, racists and observes first hand the hypocrisies of the Confederate cause. The film then ends with Holt and Roedel addressing one another by their full personal names. In affirming their identities, both are asserting a freedom or sense of "self" not bound by place, time or ideology. But Lee knows this is but a feeble affirmation; his film ultimately asserts that identity is always subservient to history. One seldom owns "who" he "is"."Devil" is bookended by a pair of weddings. During the first, Roedel likens marriage to slavery, and chastises any man who'd wed a woman. Through a bizarre sequence of events, however, Roedel finds himself forced to marry the pregnant lover of a close friend. Ironically, it is this "enslaving wedding" which emancipates Roedel from the war. As husband and father he's thrust into a new role, a role which carries with it a clear set of pre-packaged actions; flee the conflict and protect his new family. In countless similar scenes, the sheer arbitrariness of history, identity and so belief and behaviour, is highlighted. Take sequences, for example, in which Roedel's rejection of the "beliefs" of his German American father have little to do with Roedel's understanding of Unionist causes, and more to do with an unspoken loyalty to his neighbours. These neighbours' hatred of Roedel – he's seen to be a "traitorous immigrant" - is likewise capricious; Roedel fights for the South, IS a Southerner, but they nevertheless hate him because of the "identity" of Roedel's German father. Unsurprisingly for a film preoccupied with how roles and rituals are unconsciously play-acted, "Ride with the Devil" systematically undercuts and subverts the expectations typically brought to films set in the American Civil War. Such films typically revel in the splendour of antebellum Southern life, unironically celebrating and sentimentalising the luxury and civility made possible by the horrors of chattel slavery. But Lee, though he also ignores any overt depictions of slavery, never romanticises either the North or South. Both "sides" are brutal, horrible, but both are also humanised and shown to be swept up in movements they don't quite understand. In several scenes, for example, we watch as Confederate militiamen go to lengths to exhibit proper etiquette (directed at both blacks and women), and yet in others we witness bloody raids, like one sequence in which Confederates massacre 180 civilians in Lawrence, Kansas. Such juxtapositions make it spookily clear how easy it is for social animals to "ride with devils". Everyone's swept up in something, and humans are rarely strong enough or smart enough to break chains of complicity.For all its attempts at "revisionism", though, "Ride with the Devil" is still quite tame. Lee's Civil War ultimately boils down to "good Unionists" and "evil, racist, Confederates". That both sides were acting with profit, greed and the interests of land owners – which "happened" to coincide with the abolition of slavery - is ignored. For all his revisionism, Lee ultimately offers an idealistic portrait of the times. The great film about the American Civil War is still yet to be made.8/10 – Excellent, and one of the better "westerns" (though set in "eastern" Mississippi) of the 1990s. See "Shenandoah", Pontecorvo's "Burn", "Hombre" and "The Beguiled". Worth two viewings.
HawkHerald
This movie is about a group of Confederate Bushwhackers, guerrillas who were independently organized into groups of small bands, and the band shown is this movie is made up of friends Jake Roedel (Tobey Maguire) and Jack Bull Chiles (Skeet Ulrich), wealthy farmer George Clyde (Simon Baker of The Mentalist), and freed slave Daniel Holt (Jeffery Wright). Their band has a less friendly relationship with other Confederate bands due to Jake's German ancestry, his father had been a staunch abolitionist who served in the Union Army and most other German Missourians were abolitionists, and the inclusion of a former slave. They're given food and shelter by sympathetic local farmers and a young war widow, Sue Shelley (Jewel Kilcher), catches Jack's eye becoming his lover and pregnant with his child. During a brutal retaliatory action after Quantrill's Raid on Lawrence, Kansas, Jack is injured and eventually dies. Jake and Daniel take Sue and flee Missouri eventually making their way West.This is a brutal disturbing movie about a previously untold, on film at least, part of the American Civil War where your enemy may have lived as far as the next farm. You couldn't be sure who were your friends were sometimes and the wrong beliefs may have gotten you lynched. It's easy to see that the Jake Roedel's character doesn't believe in the institution of slavery but rather the principles of freedom and independence. He goes along with the Bushwackers against his dad's wishes due to so many of his friends taking up their cause. His life changes and not all for the good with the choices he makes, but by the end he's made peace with the man he was and now is.
ma-cortes
Interesting movie based on a novel by Daniel Woodrell and professionally directed by Ang Lee . It deals with Jake Roedel (Tobey Maguire) and Jack Bull (Skeet Ulrich) , two friends living in Missouri when the Civil War bursts out . Jack Bull's dad is murdered by Jayhawkers , so the young men join the Bushwhackers to fight Union soldiers . Bushwhackers are irregulars loyal to the South led by Black John (Jim Caviezel) and the violent Pitt Mackeson (Jonathan Rhys Meyers) , besides George Clyde (Simon Baker). One of them is an African-American , Daniel Holt (Jeffrey Wright), beholden to the man who bought his freedom . They are a little-known band of Civil War fighters known as Bushwhackers . They skirmish then spend long hours hiding. Sue Lee (Jewel), a young widow , brings them supplies . She and Jack Bull become lovers and when he's grievously wounded , Jake escorts her south to a safe farm . Later on , there takes place the looting and burning of Lawrence , Kansas , actually occurred on 21 August 1863 also known as Quantrill's Raid . As his friends die one after another, Jake must decide where honor lies .Exciting film based on historical events set during American Civil War (1861-1865) in which the Bushwhackers use guerrilla warfare to destroy Yankee targets and led by men set on revenge, make a raid into Kansas. The picture efficiently describes the atmosphere of violence in which Women and Blacks have few rights, confrontation among bands and bloody battles . Emotive and evocative musical score by Mychael Danna . Colorful and adequate cinematography by Frederick Elmes. Very good production design , including breathtaking attacks and battles ; the scenes of the Quantrill's Raid on Lawrence, Kansas were filmed in Pattonsburg, Missouri , Pattonsburg was flooded out during the great flood of 1993 and the town was relocated leaving many empty buildings and homes available . The motion picture was well directed by Ang Lee (Brokeback mountain , Sense and Sensibility , Hulk , Crouching tiger , hidden dragon). The flick based on real deeds , these are the followings : The Lawrence Massacre, was a rebel guerrilla attack during the U.S. Civil War by Quantrill's Raiders, led by William Clarke Quantrill, on the pro-Union town of Lawrence, Kansas. The attack on August 21, 1863, targeted Lawrence due to the town's long support of abolition and its reputation as a center for Jayhawkers and Redlegs, which were free-state militia and vigilante groups known for attacking and destroying farms and plantations in Missouri's pro-slavery western counties .By 1863, Kansas had long been the center of strife and warfare over the admission of slave versus free states. In the summer of 1856, the first sacking of Lawrence sparked a guerrilla war in Kansas that lasted for months. John Brown might be the best known participant, but numerous groups fought for each side in Bleeding Kansas.By the beginning of the American Civil War, Lawrence, Kansas, was already a target for pro-slavery ire, having been seen as the anti-slavery stronghold in the state and more importantly, a staging area for Union and Jayhawker incursions into Missouri. Initially the town and surrounding area were extremely vigilant and reacted strongly to any rumors that enemy forces might be advancing on the town. However by the summer of 1863, as none of the threats had materialized, citizen fears had declined and defense preparations were relaxed.Quantrill himself said his motivation for the attack was, "To plunder, and destroy the town in retaliation for Osceola. That was a reference to the Union's attack on Osceola, Missouri in September 1861, led by Senator James H. Lane.The attack was the product of careful planning. Quantrill had been able to gain the confidence of many of the leaders of independent Bushwhacker groups, and chose the day and time of the attack well in advance. The different groups of Missouri riders approached Lawrence from the east in several independent columns, and converged with well-timed precision in the final miles before Lawrence during the pre-dawn hours of the chosen day. Many of the men had been riding for over 24 hours to make the rendezvous and had lashed themselves to their saddles to keep riding if they fell asleep. Almost all were armed with multiple six-shot revolvers.Lawrence in ruins as illustrated in Harper's WeeklyBetween three and four hundred riders arrived at the summit of Mount Oread, then descended on Lawrence in a fury. Over four hours, the raiders pillaged and set fire to the town and killed most of its male population. Quantrill's men burned to the ground a quarter of the buildings in Lawrence, including all but two businesses. They looted most of the banks and stores and killed between 185 and 200 men and boys .
