Solemplex To me, this movie is perfection.

Hadrina The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Hayden Kane There is, somehow, an interesting story here, as well as some good acting. There are also some good scenes

Raymond Sierra The film may be flawed, but its message is not.

stephenmorrison-24732 Although Ken Burns documentary is well researched, it still lacks a larger view of American history as it stood at that time. Shelby Foote is over utilized and his sympathies are quite apparent. David McCulloch gives the documentary an instant legitimacy that no documentary deserves. An unknown narrator would have given this show a better push for viewers to search out this war for themselves. And what of the "Nullifiers" and their precious 10th Article of the Constitution? The Civil War started decades before 1861 and current events show that it's still being fought today. This series, even giving it's length, is nothing more than an overview, a glossing over of events. But that's his style, all style. Billy Crystal and Bob Costas for "Baseball", all style, all voices, all faces. As a documentary film maker, he's not in the top 10. Given his funding, that's a terrible shame.

poe-48833 The Civil War has been referred to as "a Rich Man's war fought by Poor Men." Nothing new in that, but the mere notion that the Haves could so easily convince the Have-nots to intervene in their behalf (often to the everlasting regret of the Have-nots)- a practice that continues to this very day- is nothing short of mind-boggling. Again and again, we see disillusioned vets returning from foreign shores to hurl their medals in anger and frustration at the lifeless stone superstructures of the Haves who conned them into killing; again and again we hear the same horror stories about the murdering of innocent civilians; again and again and again... No documentary has ever captured the ESSENCE of this angst so fully as THE CIVIL WAR (nor is any likely to ever BETTER capture it). It's all here, in words and pictures and music- everything but battle footage shot on location during the actual battles. (Which is where World Wars Two and Three come in...) Anyone who thinks s/he wants to be a soldier should put aside the first-person shooter video games and do some serious research: the evidence suggesting that soldiering is a fool's game is abundant enough.

suaheli What a marvellous documentary, which I had the pleasure to watch in German TV afternoon after afternoon due to my vacation leave. Nowadays here at least historical events are presented with historical photos/movie clips which are added to by awfully staged scenes by mediocre actors, mostly even dubbed because these scenes are shot in Rumania or the likes (no offence).This production here is simply breathtaking. No staged scenes just heartbreaking photographs of all these young people, staring confidently, sometimes a little fright is visible, into a camera. Add to this the letters being read - in German in my case, by marvellous contributors - it makes you feel like being there and rooting for Elisha Rhodes and Mary Chesnut and all their contemporaries. I as a German never learned f all about the Civil war but was fortunate to have a Dad who was fascinated by all things American, the liberators for a young soldier who was drafted at 18 to do the Russian campaign. Should there ever be a documentary about these boys, I'd proudly present a little tin cigarette case which dad received from a Russian POW, made from a tin plate, the upper side shows a tank and war planes, the other side shows a little peaceful house with birds. All made by use of a fork and as a gift for bread being smuggled in by dad, Breslau it reads. This drifting towards an other war just goes to tell how many heartbreaking stories have to be told. And the Ken Burns documentary is epic and wonderful by showing the faces of war, the voices of war. Could you imagine photographs of dead soldiers, some unimaginably mutilated in our days? Unimaginable. We today have clean wars, you get the numbers of deads but are spared the pictures. This documentary made me shed so many tears, war is hell (Sherman) and so many stories are still untold. War is hell indeed. And should be shown as such. Where is the documentary about letters, unsufferable pictures and such about nowadays wars? Unbelievable, but the two last centuries dealt with war much more honest than today when we are sold for in these days of internet and all around "information".Watch it.

marioncap Most reasonably-educated Americans alive today think they know something about the Civil War; but I would bet serious money that most don't know just how bloody and horrible it was. The sheer numbers of killed and maimed soldiers, between 1861 and 1865, is horrifying - and the new technology of photography made it possible for average citizens, reading their newspaper, to see the heartbreaking images of dead and dying young men lying on the battlefields. Now, digging deeper, it's even more horrifying that half of these brave young men fought and died to preserve a monstrous system in which people with light-colored skin enslaved people with dark-colored skin, for no good reason at all, except for the great enrichment of a small, wealthy white elite.Faulkner wrote, more or less, that the past "isn't over; it isn't even past." He was terribly, absolutely right.