Two, actually: 1. I was watching "Gettysburg" last night (because I'd read a collection of alternate history stories about the battle) and I wondered..."Is Muad'Dib in this movie somewhere?" How about other Civil War movies? 2. Which led to question 2: in the Gettysburg re-enactments, have they ever changed it so that Pickett's charge succeeds, or the Confederates push the 20th Maine off Little Round Top? Just wondering...
It's where instead of a reinactment, they have a war game. It's all based on the honor system of course, but the idea is to actually win the battle regardless of historical accuracy. I'll let Muad Dib tell you about one he was involved in at Appomattox. It in particular is really interesting.
So, if I win the lottery, can I participate with my platoon of tanks? As a nod to historical accuracy, I can use Shermans or Stuarts (or both, but in that case, the North will win again...)
1. Some of the reenactments I've been in have been filmed and I presume some scenes will be used in documentaries. There is a DVD of the Hunley funeral with a shot of me. The reenactment at Shiloh was filmed and some footage is going to be used in an indie film. Other than that, I've never been an extra in a feature film. I know some of the reenactors who were in Gods and Generals. They all raved about Michael Lang (Stonewall Jackson) and what a good person and inspiration he was to the reenactors. One friend told me, "It may have just been a movie, but we would have followed Michael Lang into the middle of Hell!" They said one evening about dusk, Lang was rehearsing the "You are the 1st Brigade" speech for the next day's shoot. The Confederate reenactors were sitting around him mesmerized, and when they looked up, the Federal reenactors had heard it and wandered over to listen too. I had planned on being an extra for The Last Full Measure, but last I heard, they aren't going to do the film. 2. The bigger reenactments and major national events like Gettysburg, Shiloh, Appomattox, etc., are usually pretty much scripted to the way they actually happened, so no, sadly, we don't get to give Chamberlain the ass whupping he deserved at Little Round Top. Some of the smaller events are semi-scripted so there can be some ad-libbing as long as the commanders achieve certain goals during the battle. The smaller events are often set up so that the Confederates win on Saturday and the Federals win Sunday's battle. I've read on down through the thread where Shoes mentioned "Tacticals". A Tactical is basically a war game where the commanders are given certain objectives such as capturing a certain position or the other side's camp and you go in and basically fight it out, and try to outflank or out-maneuver the enemy. Those are a blast! We did the event at Cumberland Gap this past weekend and the whole weekend was nothing but one big tactical, and it was some of the most fun I've ever had as a reenactor. We pulled surprise attacks on each other all weekend. You had to be prepared at all times during daylight hours. We didn't do any night stuff since the whole reenactment takes place in the middle of the little town and we didn't want to disturb the residents. That's what makes the Gap unique though: it's one of the few events where you get to do street fighting in a town. Now, here's the story about the Tactical at Appomattox that Shoes mentioned. They got us up at the buttcrack of dawn on Sunday morning for a tactical. We marched in a Column of Fours out to the battlefield, deployed into a battleline, and engaged the Yankees. We flanked them, pinned them into a gully and were shooting the shit out of them. We weren't just beating them: we were absolutely stomping them. If it had been real, it would have been the mother of all turkeyshoots. All of a sudden, the Confederate commanders rode down the battleline and called for cease-fire, and stopped the battle. We were all going, "What are they doing? Why are they stopping the battle? We're winning! WTF? WTF? " The commanders assembled the men and read General Lee's order that he had surrendered to General Grant and that hostilities were to cease. The way they did it to us, it hit the reenactors like a ton of bricks. There were several hundred Confederate reenactors on that battleline and there wasn't a dry eye anywhere on the line. It was the emotional rock-bottom of being a Confederate reenactor. It set the tone for the rest of the day and that afternoon we reenacted the surrender of the Army of Northern Virginia to Chamberlain where we stacked arms and regimental flags, and marched away.
Is that like those Stallone and Chuck Norris films where we pretend we go back to Viet Nam and pretend we win something so we can pretend we feel better?
Damn, are we gonna have to set up a boxing ring and get some gloves for you and Muad Dib? People and their passions- I'm tellin' ya!!
I think even Jackson would have been impressed by the ferocity Lang portrayed. He was a brilliant choice. (I could handle Tom Berenger in Gettysburg as Longstreet, and Jeff Daniels was good as Chamberlain, but Martin Sheen as Lee? That was just.... ). Jeez. That's almost...re-enactor abuse.
I don't know anybody who liked Martin Sheen as Lee. I think Robert Duvall nailed him! And yeah, Appomattox was a very emotionally wrenching event. I'm glad I did it: you have to take the bad with the good. I don't know if I could do it again. I guess we'll find out in 2010.
Believe me: that's been discussed on many occasions. If paintballs wouldn't permanently stain and ruin the uniforms, there are a lot of reenactors who would go for it. A typical uniform from a sutler costs in the $300-$400 range. We have our own seamstress who can make a private's or NCO's uniform for about $200. The Captain's frock coat was about $350, not including the pants. The authentic materials are what makes them so expensive.
