Written by David W. Rintels
Directed by John Frankenheimer

The Civil War was probably the most brutal episode of this country’s history.  There were many smaller parts of it that composed the brutality that took place during that time.  Andersonville was a notorious Confederate prison camp, named for the town it was near in South Carolina.  It actually ended up being more like a concentration camp as the imprisoned Union soldiers were worked and starved to death. In light of the current concentration camps being constructed for so-called “illegal aliens,” it’s important to revisit this.

The film Andersonville is based on a novel by MacKinley Kantor, which was taken from a POW’s diary.  Originally designed to house just 8,000 prisoners, this eventually held up to 30,000 at one time.  It’s estimated that nearly 13,000 of the 45,000 prisoners housed at Andersonville died due to the conditions at the camp. 

Andersonville begins its story in Virginia, as a group of Union soldiers are taken captive by the Confederates they are fighting.  Sergeant McSpadden (portrayed by Frederic Forrest) has taken a bullet in the shoulder but avoids medical care.

They are sent to Andersonville.  There, they find an already overcrowded prison being run by gangs within the walls.  For anyone who has seen the film Gangs of New York, there’s no surprise that the main gang are a group out of New York City who were ruffians there as well.  These men prey on the new arrivals to steal everything they own, then trade that up to the Confederates who guard them from a distance for things such as whiskey and food.

The prison camp was built downstream from the area where the soldiers were housed.  This meant that the “fresh water” that ran through the camp had waste in it from the soldiers and their horses, plus the runoff from the camp.

Andersonville takes place as the war is edging toward a victory for the Union.  It’s being guarded primarily by young boys and old men as the Confederacy is running out of soldiers.  The prisoners stage raids on the other groups from time to time and take what they can, and have no remorse about killing the soldiers who were once a part of the same army.

There is a plot going on to try to tunnel out of the camp.  The new arrivals fall in and try to help with the escape plot.  Unfortunately, while they manage to construct the tunnel and get to the outside, they are soon discovered, and most are killed.  Those who survive are brought back to the camp and tortured.

William H. Macy is Colonel Chandler, sent from the Confederate War Department to inspect the camp.  He reams Captain Wirz (portrayed by Jan Triska), who is in charge of the camp, over his treatment of the prisoners, including those who were a part of the escape plot.  He challenges him on why he hasn’t improved conditions and done something constructive instead of allowing the camp to be in chaos.

There is some change, but not much really.  However, the POWs who tried to escape become fed up with those who are preying on the other soldiers and stand up to them, taking matters into their own hands.

The smartest thing Wirz does is to allow the trial, as it is a diversion and helps quench the motivation to escape.  Although the ringleaders are found guilty and hanged, that doesn’t change the conditions at the camp from being on the border of starvation and the sicknesses that go around.  It just makes them all a little bit safer.

The film pulls very few punches in displaying the conditions, although I imagine the reality was quite a bit worse. The make-up as the men become more emaciated and sicker is quite good, although at times it is hard to look at.

The acting is stellar from those who are more familiar faces to the unknown actors.  They do the best they can to convey the horrible conditions and the day-to-day deterioration that was taking place.  With the Confederacy losing the war and the Union refusing to do prisoner exchanges, they didn’t have the resources to feed their own people, never mind captured soldiers from the other side.

There are two commentary tracks on the DVD for those of us who enjoy listening to things like this. Both were pretty interesting, although with a running time of 167 minutes, you might not want to sit through them all the way, particularly in one sitting.  That’s not to say the film itself is long, and I didn’t feel that when I was watching it, but adding the commentary tracks to the viewing will take up a considerable block of time, no matter how interesting they are.

The movie has great historical value and can easily be used as part of a unit on the Civil War.  It’s not a film with a happy ending, as often happens in a war, and is pretty sobering.  Coupled with Gangs of New York, it makes for a pretty interesting perspective on the lawlessness of the times.


SPECIAL FEATURES:

• Commentary with Director John Frankenheimer
• Commentary by Writer/Producer David Rintels, Executive Producer Ethel Winant, Production Designer Michael Hanan, Cinematographer Ric Waite, Editor Paul Rubel, Costume Designer May Routh, Civil War Historian/Military Choreographer Dale Fetzer
• Additional Scenes
• Cast & Crew Biographies