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(More customer reviews)Thus reasoned young bushwhacker Jake Roedel, (Tobey Maguire) summing up the condition of his native Missouri, torn apart by savage guerilla warfare, as neighbor fought and killed neighbor during the Civil War. This outstanding movie manages to take much the same attitude as it tells the tale of this troubling period that has usually been handled in a much more partisan manner.
The Civil War in Missouri was particularly terrible, as the loyalties and interests of the population split between the Union and the Confederacy. Few regular troops were committed to Missouri, and most of the fighting was done by roving gangs of Irregulars; Secessionist Bushwhackers and Unionist Jayhawkers. These men more often made war on those who once had been their neighbors and friends than on uniformed troops, and terrible atrocities that were more murder than war were committed by each side.
`Ride with the Devil' is an incredibly thoughtful and nuanced telling of this sad story. All of the protagonists are bushwhackers, but the movie does not attempt to paint them as pure heroes fighting against evil for all that is good and right. Instead, it manages to show them as young men who had the misfortune to be caught up in the sweep of history and forced into a violent life by unavoidable circumstances. We see the struggle some of them had between the violent actions that had become their life and their own sense of decency, and we see others enthusiastically revel in the murderous mayhem - glad for the excuse the war had given them to be free of the constraints of civilized society. One scene in particular drives home the fact that these warriors were more boys than men. Jake (Maguire) faces his new bride, a young women already widowed by the war (Jewel) in the bedroom on their wedding night. When she asks him if he is a virgin, he blusters that "I've seen plenty" and when ask again if he has been with a woman, he seems frozen with terror, and only manages to say, "Girl, I've killed fifteen men." These were boys forced to become killers before many had the chance to be lovers.
Though there were no Unionist protagonists in this film, it used an effective device to put across the humanity of the bushwhacker's enemies. A captured mailbag was plundered, and letters were read aloud as the bushwhacker's searched for enemy secrets. The letters turned out to be mundane messages from mothers to sons and brother to brother. The young men heard and acknowledge how like their own mothers and brothers these people sounded, and how in other circumstances they might find them fine people, before someone reminded them that the sons of that mother would kill them, given the chance.
`Ride with the Devil' is filmed beautifully, and is as close to being cinematically perfect as could be desired. Its scenes of violence are quick, realistic, and brutal, but the film does not dwell on them. Indeed, there are long sequences that deal with nothing but the complex interpersonal relationships of the characters, and action war movie junkies are likely to find `Ride with the Devil' a disappointment despite its realism. Tobey Maguire is perfectly cast as a shy, decent young man trying to maintain his integrity in a violent life, and Jeffery Wright is outstanding as a freed slave who fights for the bushwhackers out of loyalty to his friend who freed him. All of the roles are well cast and acted, including Jewel in her film debut as a young Confederate widow.
`Ride with the Devil' is the best done of any Civil War film that I have yet seen. It is beautifully filmed, skillfully acted, intelligently written, and tells its story with fairness and perspective. Unfortunately, its virtues are exceeded by its obscurity, as so many have never heard of it. Now that you know of it, don't cheat yourself by missing this outstanding film.
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