View single post by susansweet2
 Posted: Mon Apr 25th, 2011 10:08 am
PM Quote Reply Full Topic
susansweet2
Member
 

Joined: Thu Feb 9th, 2006
Location:  
Posts: 98
Status: 
Offline
Mana: 
 I saw the movie last night with friends and first of all will say I love it and will recommend it to friends.  I could nitpick it to death though with little mistakes that only someone would know if they were into Civil War .  Costumes were wonderful except why did they focus in one scene on the woman holding a cheap sandelwood fan that you can buy in any gift shop that sells Civil War stuff for kids. 

The things I would nitpick do not spoil the movie or the flow of the movie.  Just little mistakes in the history. 

The people of the Surratt house said it best .

Several of the Surratt House Museum’s staff and members were invited to private screenings of “The Conspirator” before its nationwide release in April. They were pleasantly surprised. The following is a short review of the film.

The movie focuses on the imprisoned Mary Surratt and her relationship with defense lawyer, Frederick Aiken, who is forced into defending her and soon becomes convinced that she does not deserve to die. The two starring roles are portrayed by Robin Wright and James McAvoy, both of whom do very credible and convincing jobs. Other major players are good also. Assassination buffs will find fault with some of the casting because they are so familiar with what the Booth conspirators actually looked like. Our museum director wanted to add hair extensions to Edwin Stanton’s (Kevin Kline’s) beard!
The film was shot in Savannah, Georgia, because Washington, D.C. could not offer the 1865 atmosphere needed. For the pure historian, Savannah will appear a little too elegant for the nation’s capital of the Civil War era; and substituting Fort Pulaski for the Washington Arsenal Penitentiary doesn’t quite work. Surrounded by a moat, Pulaski appears to look more like Mudd’s prison at Fort Jefferson in the Dry Tortugas. Again, the general audience will not be aware of this.
It is our firm belief that, in order to learn history one must enjoy history. “The Conspirator” is enjoyable and educational when one realizes the strong-arm tactics that a military judicial system used to quickly convict the conspirators, stifle discontent, and move on with restoring the Union.