Genre Guesstimation – Jewish Soldiers in Blue & Gray (2011)

The idea behind this feature (Genre Guesstimation) is for me to watch a bunch of new movies (or ones that I haven’t seen many times) from the chosen monthly GG genre in order to expand my knowledge of movies within that particular genre.

This month’s Genre has been chosen by Quiggy of The Midnite Drive-In and it is Documentary Films.

Please get me your submissions by the 25th of Dec by sending them to docuquiggy@movierob.net

Try to think out of the box!

Let’s see if I felt that this movie would be worthy of being in the company of my others favorite movies in the genre of Documentary Films.…

“It is the bloodiest conflict in American history: The Civil War. Sides are drawn, families ripped apart, friends become bitter enemies. Those who fight in Union and Confederate Armies from rank and file soldiers to military commanders come from different classes, cultures and religions. Left out of most history books are the 10,000 Jewish servicemen that play critical roles on both sides of the battlefield. But old prejudices will keep many of them from equal treatment among their fellow soldiers and superiors. Despite the challenges, these Jewish fighters find comfort in their ancient beliefs. It will be a necessity as they wage war with the enemy and against their own flesh and blood. Brother against brother, friend against friend, Jew against Jew. ” – Narrator

Number of Times Seen – 1 (18 Dec 2018)

Brief Synopsis – Documentary about the influence of Jewish soldiers and intellectuals on the war between the states during the mid-1800’s.

My Take on it – This is a film that I have been interested in seeing for a few years ever since I first heard about it.

I was so happy to finally get a chance to see what it was all about.

The film has a great premise and is quite interesting in the way that it is able to shed so much light on information that is not necessarily common knowledge.

They do a great job showing the amount of influence Jews had on both sides of the conflict especially on the subject of slavery.

It’s intriguing to see that even a religion who have suffered slavery could also be internally conflicted as to whether the issues of slavery are right or wrong and this film shows various debates between well known Jewish scholars at the time about these issues.

This film also does a great job enriching the amount of knowledge of how integral Jewish statesman, officers and soldiers alike were during this very deadly war and for many years following it.

Bottom Line – Very interesting film that is able to bring so much unknown information to the forefront. The film is quite informative about the influence of Jews on both sides of the conflict.  The views on slavery were never clear cut even among a religion that suffered much slavery over the generations.  The film does a great job enriching the knowledge about how integral Jewish statesman, officers and soldiers were during the War and afterwards. REcommended!

MovieRob’s Favorite Trivia – Coinciding with the 150th anniversary of the Civil War, JEWISH SOLDIERS IN BLUE & GRAY is a first-of-its-kind film that reveals the little-known struggles facing American Jews both in battle and on the home front during the nation’s deadliest war. This Documentary reveals an unknown chapter in American history when allegiances during the War Between the States deeply split the Jewish community. It examines a time when approximately 10,000 Jewish soldiers fought on both sides; 7,000 Union and 3,000 Confederate. And we expose General Ulysses Grant’s controversial decision to expel all Jews from his territory. We’ll also tell the stories of President Lincoln’s Jewish doctor serving as a spy in the South, and how five Union Jewish soldiers received the Congressional Medal of Honor. (From Civilwarjews.com)

Genre Grandeur Worthy? – Comes close, it’s quite an interesting premise for a film and is quite eye opening yet it still is far from perfect.

Rating – Globe Worthy (8/10)

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