A Civil War adventure set in the gray area of the Kansas-Missouri border, where there was (we learn anew) no official Confederate Army presence, only a guerrilla force of Cavalier-haired pro-South Bushwhackers to do battle against their opposite number, the abolitionist Jayhawkers. The historical time and place are inherently, which is not to say automatically, interesting. What nails down the interest, what fights off the lethargy of the classroom, is the swift-moving Stevensonian narrative -- think The Black Arrow, think Kidnapped -- of sensitive, decent, gallant, prematurely aging young men swept up in the passions of a bad and hopeless cause. (The brilliant device of reading aloud, for campfire entertainment, the letters from a confiscated Union mailbag serves to humanize the distant enemy: "Sounds like my mother," responds one of the listeners. But: "Remember her sons will kill you if they can.") The essential situation of a life lived on the run and in hiding is immediately involving, and convincingly detailed; there is depth, and there is growth, in the characters; losses are suffered and new attachments are formed, and the spectator won't be immune. This is, in short, an exemplary piece of storytelling, one that respects equally the material and the audience -- a rare enough thing in any kind of film, but particularly in an action film. With Tobey Maguire, Skeet Ulrich, Jeffrey Wright, and Jewel; directed by Ang Lee. (1999) — Duncan Shepherd
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