Customer Reviews

The History Channel Presents The Spanish-American War - First Intervention

5 star:		(1)
4 star:		(3)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I may be biased about this DVD, having seen the excellent PBS documentary "Crucible of Empire: The Spanish American War". This DVD, I thought, came up short in some ways, much of it having to do with the heavy use of actors and reenactors, the distracting attempts to recreate the look and feel of old film stock and the near-jingoistic view of the fighting. The film allowed actors to speak the words of the principals -- TR, William McKinley, Philino rebel Edwardo Aguyinaldo and others -- and interact with one another in set piece fashion.

First Intervention covers the origins and subtleties of the conflist rather lightly, and spends (I think ) an inordinate amount of time on the Battle of San Juan Hill, which made an enduring name for Teddy Roosevelt. The battle -- a one-day affair in a 3-1/2 month war -- was a one-sided affair with 10,000 Americans battling 750 Spaniards. But the DVD spends quite a bit of time on it, making much of the courage of the Americans. The good news is that it seems to depict the battle accurately, with most of the Rough Riders advancing without their horses, in opposition to later illustrations. Another questinable aspect of the filk is its depictions of black American soldiers. I have no issue with depicting the involvement of these "Buffalo Soldiers," who were among the few battle-tested portions of the American invasion force. But the chuminess they have with whites seems problematic. I rather doubt that blacks and whites -- given the racist overtones of the day -- sang and drank and smoked around campfires as shown here. And some of the reenactors looked mighty old and heavy to be playing young recruits, as the occasionally snippets of actual footage indicate.

After watching both films, I would recommend "Crucible of War" for a more accurate and more fully rendered portrait of the war period. But "First intervention," for all its restagings is valuable in depicting the contested ground on which the battles were fought. And its use of early war recreations (by Thomas Edison's company) was both instructive, comical and an unintended ironic parallel to the newer film's own troubles with reenacting warfare for a hometown audience. Take "First Intervention" with a grain of salt, don't believe everything you see, and obtain a window into an under-told and often mispresented period of US history.

Even though the Spanish American war is a small blip in history, this film does an excellent job in connecting why we went to war with Spain over Cuba and how it reflects the overall history of this country at the end of the 19th century and leading into the 20th century. The director has taken an interesting approach in having many of the individuals involved in this conflict speak for themselves through the actors that portray them. Their words play a major role in understanding the various perspectives on both sides as well as the journalists who witnessed the events up close. Through this war America became a world power for the first time. Anyone who wants to understand the path that has lead us to our current world view as a nation should see this film. The documentary included on the DVD on how and why the film was made will make you appreciate the passion, dedication, and creativity behind this body of work.

The Spanish American War was really the first event to totally unify the country after 33 years of grudges and animosities caused by the War Between the States. This, in reality, is also what really ushered the United States into the 20th century. This DVD is a good effort in getting authors together who definitely know something about the war and gives the viewer much insight into information the average American citizen, military or civilian, would not have been in a position to know at the time. As a military buff, I was not impressed with the way the cavalry was portrayed. While I refuse to take away the exploits of the Rough Riders and the 2 black cavalry regiments (9th and 10th Cavalry), I was taken by the total absence of the 1st, 3rd, and 6th regular U.S. Cavalry regiments, who definitely carried their share of the load. Other than that, this is a DVD well worth having and I recommend it to anyone, along with "Crucible of Empire" and "Birth of a Superpower".

In teaching my students about the Spanish-American War, this is the only source I found that gave so much credit to the "Buffalo Soldiers". Granted, the African-American regiments are to be commended, but this video spends more time talking about the "Buffalo Soldiers" than anything else, including Roosevelt himself! I could not find any other source in my public library that even indicated that the African-American soldiers were even called "Buffalo Soldiers" (a name given by Native Americans) during this war.

This is not a credible source if you want a serious study of the Spanish-American War.

Excellent combination of historical facts and historic reenactments. Shows how proper use of the press can over ride common sense and good judgment in dealing with situations. well made and great use of historically accurate reenactor groups.

I love all this history stuff. Always very interesting. We don't get the History Channel, just regular free broadcast channels.. These DVDs are great.

Though this is very informative and interesting, it is too long to use in a school setting. I liked it personally, but it was long at times.

The reconstructions were interesting,the actor who played Teddy Roosevelt was fine, but the way it was shot made me queasy.I react with my stomach to jerky, handheld photography. The photography here was like that.Others with less squeamish stomachs may react differently to the photography.The excellent extra biography of T.R. did not bother me at all. It was shot conventionally.Would give it 5 stars but for the above. People with sensitive stomachs beware.