Reviews for Shenandoah
Review - Shenandoah
There was some good acting in this film, but there were too many problems for me to endorse it heartily. For one thing, I had to try to forget everything I knew about the war in the Shenandoah in particular and about the whole war in general. There's now way six grown men would have been allowed to sit out the war in the South. The youngest son was taken prisoner because he was wearing a Confederate hat and carrying a rifle. Duh. Charlie and his sons are able to stop a prisoner train, release the prisoners and burn the train without any problem. Just stuff like that. There was a fairly strong anti-war message, but the movie ended so flatly that I'm not sure what the point was. Throughout, Stewart's character made it very clear that he just went to church and prayed because his dead wife made him promise, but in the end, when Boy returns, he joins in in church and sings "Praise God from Whom All Blessings Flow," so I guess he changed his mind about that too.
Reviewed by Roger on 2015-06-05 11:31:20