Most Helpful Customer Reviews
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69 of 73 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
"It ain't right and it ain't wrong - it just is.", May 1, 2005
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.
Theo Logos
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36 of 38 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A Heck of a Ride, August 13, 2000
This is one of those rare movies where everybody got it right ---from the cinematography to the casting; from the musical score to film editing; from costume design to second unit directing this movie is nearly flawless. The directing by Ang Lee (Sense and Sensibility) and the performance by a wonderful ensemble cast put this movie in a league with the great modern frontier movies like The Outlaw Josey Wales and The Long Riders.Set on the Missouri/Kansas border during the American Civil War, the movie faithfully recreates the story told by Daniel Woodrell in his wonderful novel, Woe To Live On. The book is worth reading for the dialogue alone and the movie is worth watching simply for James Schamus' magnificent screenplay: But there is much move to love about this movie. The tapestry upon which the story of Ride With The Devil is painted is a violent one but, apart from some very graphic scenes, is more about human nature than anything else. Indeed, the depth of the violence only adds to the poignancy of the surprisingly frequent gentle scenes that occur in the movie. Tobey Macguire is perfect in the lead role, Jewel gives a surprisingly intuitive performance, and Jefrey Wright almost steals the show with his low-key, but passionate performance as a freed slave riding with a gang of white bushwhackers. Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, Macguire's nemesis, has a small part but is death himself. (His final confrontation with Macguire is brief and chilling --- and encapsulates the entire sense and sensibility of the movie.) Sadly, this movie will probably go unnoticed by the general public since it seems to have had a limited release in the US and gone almost immediately from the theater to the rental market. Hopefully word-of-mouth will build interest in this truly remarkable American classic. Watch it --- but read the book too.
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21 of 23 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Gritty and realistic portrayal of the Civil War in Missouri, November 21, 2005
"Ride With the Devil" is set in an often-overlooked theater of the Civil War although the action there was as much, if not more, brutal than the battlefields. Relatives and neighbors took stands against each other and everyone was subject to the viciousness of the Bushwhackers, the Jayhawkers, or both.
Although the storyline is presented from the point of view of fictional Bushwhacker Jake, the script manages to give a balanced picture of the atrocities inflicted by both sides, even William Quantrill's raid on Lawrence, Kansas (which was in retaliation for the deaths of women and girls who were being held by Union officials merely because they were related to Quantrill's men).
The filmmakers take great pains with authenticity and it's refreshing to see that the Confederate States Army WAS in fact ethnically diverse, and that African-Americans did indeed serve in its ranks while still managing to show the harsh racism of the period. If anything is less than convincing it's the romance...I thought the girl showed less moral character than typical women of the time, but Jewel gives an excellent performance. Tobey Maguire is simply outstanding.
I highly recommend this movie. Excellent period piece, historically accurate, and well casted.
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