When I see a documentary I like to feel I will learn something when I watch it and I will also feel entertained. In essence, the film needs to have some sense of theater so it holds my interest. The Battle of Shiloh Reenactment documentary did that - it was fun to watch and I learned a lot about a Civil War reenactment event.
I was happy to see how this epic scale film covers most aspects of the event and takes 2 DVDs to get it done. Sometimes documentaries seem to try to cover a lot and do not allow the proper time to do it. Not so with this film. In some ways this film has the feel of a Ken Burns documentary... it has old photos, letters from soldiers during the war, etc. However, it is not quite on par with the Ken Burns films. That said, it is a very good effort at fully covering a Civil War reenactment event.
The first DVD presents an introduction to the Battle of Shiloh and has the battle reenactments. The old photos and music do a good job in setting the mood. I like the way the filming of the battle scenes draw the viewer onto the field. At times you feel you are in the middle of the battle and the audio for the rifles and cannons is so authentic that it really adds to the dramatic nature of these scenes.
The second DVD is a nice complement to the first. It has a more relaxed pace as it takes the viewer on a tour of the Federal and Confederate camps. I like the scenes were you are walking through the woods and stumble upon some tents and horses. This filming has the viewer deep in the woods and is an excellent way to impress upon all who watch the sense of place where this battle happened. This section has some very good scenes on hitching horses to cannons and then watching the horses move out pulling the limbers and cannons. All of this behind-the-scenes coverage helps the viewer to get much closer to the people, horses, tents, cannons, campfires, wagons, mud and dense woods that made up the Shiloh reenactment event.
In summary, I really liked this documentary because it gave a very comprehensive presentation of a Civil War reenactment. I felt the film worked hard to cover a lot of bases and it succeeded. I liked they way it added a very helpful feature such as a chapter selection option at the front of each DVD. This made it easy to select a section to view (for example, the Saturday Night Dance) without having to watch the entire DVD. This was an excellent idea since the documentary covers such a wide range of material. All in all, a very lively film and a lot of fun to watch.
