Copperhead

Although the topic is fascinating -- few movies have focused on the Northern Democrats who opposed the war -- it's depicted in a way that may not be entirely historically accurate. Director Ronald F. Maxwell is clearly obsessed with the Civil War, having already made the lengthy dramatic features Gettysburg and Gods and Generals. Maxwell is known, through his films, to posit a pro-Confederate view of the Civil War, in which the abolitionists and Lincoln are the bloodthirsty aggressors, and the Southern slaveowners and generals are the true heroes who were merely defending their home states.

COPPERHEAD's story about a peace-loving New York Democrat who doesn't want his son drawn into a war (which is repeatedly called the War Between the States instead of the Civil War) that he finds unconstitutional is compelling. The "bad guy" abolitionist is portrayed as a drunk rabblerouser who doesn't care who dies as long as the scourge of slavery is abolished. And then there's the Romeo and Juliet love story, which is only resolved after a death. It's interesting, but it seems made for the Hallmark Channel, rather than a theatrical release. It's fine for family viewing, but be aware that it's a revisionist rendering of the Civil War's causes and how Peace Democrats acted -- one that isn't supported by academic accounts of either Copperheads or the Civil War itself.