NF Field of Lost Shoes.

Non-Fiction

Will Carry

First Sergeant
Joined
Jun 1, 2015
Location
The Tar Heel State.
It is a movie about the VMI cadets at New Market. It is a low budget picture with some respectable actors. I thought it was a good movie but they didn't have the nerve to have any of the cadets be pro-slavery or even racists. With the Social Justice Movement in full swing a few critics blasted it. To me...it's just a movie! I love movies for their entertainment value and they don't have to be WOKE. "Cross of Iron" was a good movie about Germans on the Eastern Front. It isn't WOKE either. It came out in the sixties when the Soviet Union was our enemy.
 
It is a movie about the VMI cadets at New Market. It is a low budget picture with some respectable actors. I thought it was a good movie but they didn't have the nerve to have any of the cadets be pro-slavery or even racists. With the Social Justice Movement in full swing a few critics blasted it. To me...it's just a movie! I love movies for their entertainment value and they don't have to be WOKE. "Cross of Iron" was a good movie about Germans on the Eastern Front. It isn't WOKE either. It came out in the sixties when the Soviet Union was our enemy.

They overall white washed the cadets views that would be more divisive today including not having them call northerners yankees or playing any of the more divisive songs of the era at the ball. I believe Breckenridge was the only one to use the term yankee in the film. The social graces at the ball were also more early 1960s South then 1860s South.

Given the push in various cities to ban Huckleberry Finn for using the common language of the era for teens I understand why they made some of the decisions they made.

Still it was a good film.
 
It is a movie about the VMI cadets at New Market. It is a low budget picture with some respectable actors. I thought it was a good movie but they didn't have the nerve to have any of the cadets be pro-slavery or even racists. With the Social Justice Movement in full swing a few critics blasted it. To me...it's just a movie! I love movies for their entertainment value and they don't have to be WOKE. "Cross of Iron" was a good movie about Germans on the Eastern Front. It isn't WOKE either. It came out in the sixties when the Soviet Union was our enemy.
Cross Of Iron certainly seems to have its share of worshippers - I once posted a review of it on Amazon panning it for its many historical errors, and you'dve thought I'd questioned the divinity of Jesus, insulted The Prophet, and denigrated Buddha all at the same time!
 
Cross Of Iron certainly seems to have its share of worshippers - I once posted a review of it on Amazon panning it for its many historical errors, and you'dve thought I'd questioned the divinity of Jesus, insulted The Prophet, and denigrated Buddha all at the same time!
I had a guy hype the movie as the best war movie ever made. Needless to say I was disappointed. It is worth watching and I would recommend it with a grain of salt.
 
I didn't like the first hour or so, but once the battle got going, I thought it was pretty good. Those parts would make at least a good visitor center movie.
 
I thought it was a good movie but they didn't have the nerve to have any of the cadets be pro-slavery
Agreed.
Kind of like all those "happy free Blacks" (working) on Mel Gibson's 1776 plantation in the film The Patriot.

But, I did enjoy watching "Field of Lost Shoes".

Back to the film:
Any cadet at the Virginia Military Institute was the son of a very wealthy Southern planter.
I stress the words VERY WEALTHY.

"Cross of Iron" was a good movie about Germans on the Eastern Front.
While I've never watched the movie, the original book is one the best World War II novels I've read.
But as everyone knows . . . the book is always better than the movie.
 
Agreed.
Kind of like all those "happy free Blacks" (working) on Mel Gibson's 1776 plantation in the film The Patriot.

But, I did enjoy watching "Field of Lost Shoes".

Back to the film:
Any cadet at the Virginia Military Institute was the son of a very wealthy Southern planter.
I stress the words VERY WEALTHY.


While I've never watched the movie, the original book is one the best World War II novels I've read.
But as everyone knows . . . the book is always better than the movie.

What are you going to do when to many the fundamental rating of a person comes down to their level of ‘wokeness’?
 
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I can't believe that topic was even "brought up" . . . (on a sub forum dedicated to "books and movies").

My point was history films are in a no win situation. Be completely blunt and honest about how teens born in Virginia in the 1840s talked about race while portraying the teens overall in the film sympathetically and set on the warpath those looking for something to be offended by (how I would define woke) or have them all be out of time period teens in how they refer to race and avoid controversy.

For myself I would go for historical accuracy.
 
For myself I would go for historical accuracy.
That was my point.

Overall, the film may have been historically accurate when representing the battle scenes, but the producer/director
missed the angle of historical accuracy regarding the attitudes of young cadets at VMI.

Not trying to argue, but the majority of the young men at VMI were being groomed to inherit their Father's wealth.
I doubt any of them would have been overly concerned about a poor slave.

Very sad . . . but historically accurate.
 
I must watch the whole movie 🍿 . I watched the main battle scene on YouTube and while it was low budget, I thought it was produced to a decent standard. I’d love to visit the battlefield some day.
 
while it was low budget, I thought it was produced to a decent standard.
Agreed.

I watched this movie again today.
I've seen much worse low budget films.

My biggest issue was with the over dramatic acting.
But then again, other than Tom Skerritt I didn't recognize any of the actors.
Actually I doubt any Hollywood "A-Listers" were considered.
( More budget issues I suspect )

Some of the usual stereotypical fake Southern accents were distracting for me as well.
Being from Ireland, I'm sure you can relate to that fact ( regarding real accents).
:laugh:

But I really can't blame the actors. They did try to get our accent "right".

However ... as American Civil War films are rare these days ... we take what we can get .

On a positive note, I thought the cinematography was fantastic for a low budget film.
And the uniforms and flags of both Armies were accurate.

 
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