Ride With the Devil (1999)

The Civil War of battlefields and plantation houses is nowhere to be seen here. Instead we see the war as an improvised and largely blundering but very bloody feud among neighbors in the border state of Missouri. In this bucolic war zone--more than a little reminiscent of the Balkans in the late 1990s--the Taiwanese-born director Ang Lee (Sense and Sensibility) traces the destinies of several young Southern bushwhackers (guerrilla fighters) as they experience violence, the seasons, and different kinds of love. Skeet Ulrich draws the aristocratic glamour role (and top billing), but he's overshadowed by Tobey Maguire as a first-generation American, the magnificent Jeffrey Wright (a shameful oversight at Oscar time) as a freed slave fighting beside his former master, and singer Jewel in a very natural acting debut as the young widow who graces all their lives. The title The Birth of a Nation was already taken, but by the end of this movie you feel it would have applied here. -- Richard T. Jameson

Set on the Missouri/Kansas border during the American Civil War, the movie faithfully recreates the story told by Daniel Woodrell in his wonderful novel, Woe To Live On. The book is worth reading for the dialogue alone and the movie is worth watching simply for James Schamus' magnificent screenplay: But there is much move to love about this movie.

The tapestry upon which the story of Ride With The Devil is painted is a violent one but, apart from some very graphic scenes, is more about human nature than anything else. Indeed, the depth of the violence only adds to the poignancy of the surprisingly frequent gentle scenes that occur in the movie. Tobey Macguire is perfect in the lead role, Jewel gives a surprisingly intuitive performance, and Jefrey Wright almost steals the show with his low-key, but passionate performance as a freed slave riding with a gang of white bushwhackers. Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, Macguire's nemesis, has a small part but is death himself. (His final confrontation with Macguire is brief and chilling --- and encapsulates the entire sense and sensibility of the movie.)

Sadly, this movie will probably go unnoticed by the general public since it seems to have had a limited release in the US and gone almost immediately from the theater to the rental market. Hopefully word-of-mouth will build interest in this truly remarkable American classic. Watch it --- but read the book too.


Ang Lee's meditation on friendship during the Civil War   June 17, 2004
Lawrance M. Bernabo (The Zenith City, Duluth, Minnesota)
28 out of 33 found this review helpful

Missouri was one of the slave states that was kept in the Union during the Civil War and since it was on the far side of the Mississippi River it was not really part of the Western Theater of the war. As the critical part of the Anaconda Plan the Union armies were seeking control of the Mississippi, which explained why General Grant was fighting his way from Tennessee to Vicksburg while Admiral Farragut took New Orleans. In fact, there really was not an organized Confederate army in Missouri, which explains why the young Southern men in "Ride with the Devil" join the Irregulars, who waged guerrilla warfare against Union loyalists. In this part of the war we do not talk about great battles, but rather the infamous raid that torched Lawrence, Kansas on August 21, 1863 as Quantrill's raiders murdered the pro-Union Jayhawks.

The story here focus on six young men who join the bushwackers: Jake Roedel (Tobey Maguire), a first generation American who wants to be considered as much a Southerner as any one else even though his father came from Germany (which means he is called "Dutchy"); Jack Bull Chiles (Skeet Ulrich), who hates the Yankees and has seen his family killed; George Clyde (Simon Baker-Denny), a gentleman fighting to preserve a way of life that is going to be gone with the wind; Daniel Holt (Jeffrey Wright), an ex-slave who fights besides Clyde because the man freed him; Pitt Mackeson (Jonathan Rhys Meyers), who is a sadist who glories in killing; and Black John (James Caviezel), almost as brutal but more driven by anger and revenge.

The idea in "Ride with the Devil" is that when America went to war with itself in 1861 the young boys growing up in Missouri and Kansas were suddenly forced into a less than honorable manhood overnight. Consequently, one of the first casualties of the war was their innocence. In 1987 Missouri-born author Daniel Woodrell wrote his Civil War-era novel "Woe to Live On." For Ang Lee the appeal was the drama of young people coming of age in the worst possible time in American history and the theme of self-emancipation. The principal actors were put through three weeks of "boot camp" to capture the way the war dehumanized the young men forced to fight it.

This film start out focusing on the friendship between Jake and Bull as much as it is on anything else, but then while hiding out from the Yankees during the winter Bull takes a liking to Sue Lee Shelly (Jewel), a young widow woman who is helping to provide them with food. Having lost both his father and his best friend, Jake continues to fight because that is what he is supposed to be doing and starts to connect with two other characters in ways that will eventually change his life. After the Lawrence Raid it is clear that the war is going to be lost and a young man who has not even seen twenty years realizes he is lost as well.

Certainly "Ride with the Devil" is a beautiful film with the sense of period authenticity you would expect from Lee. It is not really a movie about the Civil War any more than "Cold Mountain" is (an obvious comparison), but more about the friendships that take place during a war. It is just not clear that this is the central theme because our expectations are raised by more standard plot considerations (love and revenge) that do not get played out the way you would think. There is also a sense in which Roedel is the least interesting character of the bunch, yet he emerges as the central figure and the most important gun in the film is perhaps the one that is not fired.


This Devil Needs A Better Ride--A Potentially Powerful Epic Is Really A Plodding Drama   November 26, 2006
K. Harris (Las Vegas, NV)
22 out of 37 found this review helpful

I guess I'm going to have to chime into the minority opinion on Ang Lee's "Ride With The Devil"--most people here seem to have found something special that was lacking for me. While it is a handsome production, it lacks heart, moral complexity, and genuine character development. The setup of this Civil War drama tells us that this was a war fought between neighbors and friends. As best friends, Skeet Ulrich and Tobey Maguire forego the regular army to be a part of the southern Bushwackers. Wreaking vengeance on abolitionist Jayhawkers, they murder with impunity anyone who stands on the other side of the issues.

The Civil War is rich dramatic territory. I'd have loved to see regular men conflicted by the harsh choices that they must make. If this is neighbor against neighbor and friend against friend, there needs to be a little more ambiguity--a little more feeling about what they are being forced to do. But we never see that conflict or any real emotion, just actions. Without this context, "Ride" moves along with no real heart. Since we are not asked to understand our protagonists, much of their action seems soulless. And the conflict, itself, is never outlined with much detail--a rather perfunctory explanation of the situation did little to involve me in the story.

One of the main issues with "Ride with the Devil" comes from the casting. The chief mistake is Tobey Maguire. Now I think that Maguire is talented--he has been quite effective in the "Spiderman" saga, "Wonder Boys" and "The Ice Storm." But here he plays a Civil War era soldier/marauder with a modern day slacker sensibility. It doesn't enhance the material and it doesn't suit the time frame. In lieu of actual emotion, he meets every scene head-on with a vacant grin. Whether he's hearing about his father's death, partaking in pillaging, or just romancing--not one emotion registers. We get a blank expression which leaves a complete void at the center of the picture. Jewel being cast as the female lead doesn't help matters, either. With line readings so flat--the scenes between the two of them are absolutely unendurable.

There are a few nice performances, however. Jeffrey Wright is noteworthy, as always. In the film's most fleshed out role as a freed slave, he gives the one real heartfelt performance. Simon Baker also does well in a relatively minor role. He provides a much needed energy to any scene. The film is noticeably better when more actors are on screen. The action sequences will hold your interest, but in the quiet moments--the film all but stops dead in its tracks.

In all honesty, this picture is only about 1 1/2 stars for me. I never thought a Civil War picture could be so lacking in drama, passion, and emotion. What should have been a powerful epic is just a plodding drama. KGHarris, 11/06.


Solid Drama from Ang Lee   June 24, 2002
Reviewer
20 out of 23 found this review helpful

The War Between the States was perhaps the darkest hour in the history of America; a war that pitted brother against brother and family against family and left scars that even today have not yet healed, and in all probability never will. And, as in any story about any war, beyond any historical significance it is the personal discord behind the greater conflict that creates the emotional impetus that makes it involving. It is the human element that renders the context necessary to give it perspective, which is what director Ang Lee provides in "Ride With the Devil," a Civil War drama in which he focuses on the personal travails within the broader depiction of the War itself, and along the way manages to include an examination of one of the bloodiest chapters of the War, the infamous raid on Lawrence, Kansas, by Quantrill and his raiders, which he succeeds in presenting quite objectively from the Confederate point-of-view.

In 1863, the Union influence predominates in the State of Kansas, and even across the border in neighboring Missouri, those with Confederate loyalties are finding it increasingly difficult to hold out against the encroaching Northerners, especially without the aid of what could be considered any "regular" Confederate troops. And when things begin to really heat up around their own town, Jack Bull Chiles (Skeet Ulrich) and Jake Roedel (Tobey Maguire) form a band of their own and join in the fray, doing damage to the Union cause wherever it is practicable. Jack Bull and Jake do not like the War and do not like killing; but they are standing up for what they believe to be right.

There are others, however, even among their own, men like the young Pitt Mackeson (Jonathan Rhys-Meyers), who will use the conflict as a vehicle for personal gain and as nothing more than an excuse to express their own violent nature through unnecessary brutality, perpetrated in many instances against innocent victims. And so, for Jack Bull and Jake, as well as many just like them, it becomes a time in which loyalty and moral judgments will be sorely tested; a time during which their souls will be tempered in blood. And they will have to ride with the very Devil himself, against seemingly insurmountable odds.

As with all of his films, director Ang Lee approaches his story through an incisive, yet subtle examination of the traditions, cultural aspects and moral attitudes of the people and times he is depicting. And in so doing, Lee provides his audience with at least some understanding of his subject that goes beyond the actual story and ultimately offers, perhaps, a deeper grasp of the motivations that propel his characters and the drama in which they are engaged. Whether it's the traditions and customs that account for the relationship between a father and his daughters ("Eat Drink Man Woman"), the effects of class distinction ("Sense and Sensibility"), the honor and code by which a warrior lives and dies ("Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon") or the moral ambiguities fostered by a lack of all of the above ("The Ice Storm"), Lee infuses his films with insights into the human condition that take them to a higher level. This film is no exception; and (as he does with all his films), Lee presents his story with the aid of breathtaking cinematography (in this film, by Frederick Elmes, who also did "The Ice Storm" brilliantly), which under his guidance is nothing less than visual poetry. It's that special Lee touch, and it adds a wistful, reflective sense to whatever story he is telling, which is one of the elements that make his films so memorable.

As Jake, Tobey Maguire initially brings a sense of youthful innocence to the film that contrasts so effectively with the maturity he conveys later on as the story develops, and his character along with it. Most importantly, Maguire convincingly and believably responds to the events that unfold around him, which adds to the credibility of the overall film and underscores the realism of the presentation: His stoic acceptance of death and the news of those "murdered" in the various skirmishes and battles; the moral propriety to which those he encounters adhere, even in such troubled times; the betrayal, which because of the nature of the conflict is almost commonplace; and the loyalty and beliefs to which he and his companions cling adamantly. It is all of this that Maguire achieves through his performance, and it is no small accomplishment. It is, however, the kind of studied, understated performance that is often taken for granted, which is unfortunate; work like this is worthy of acclaim, and should be recognized.

Skeet Ulrich is effective, as well, as Jack Bull, and Jewel (in her motion picture debut) turns in an engaging performance as Sue Lee Shelley. It is Jeffrey Wright, however, who stands out in a notable supporting role as Daniel Holt, as well as Jonathan Rhys-Meyers, who brings a chilling Christopher Walken-like menace to his role of Pitt. Also, in what amounts to a cameo role (one scene), Mark Ruffalo leaves an indelible impression with very little screen time.

The supporting cast includes James Caviezel (Black John), Simon Baker (George Clyde), Tom Guiry (Riley), Tom Wilkinson (Orton Brown), John Ales (Quantrill), John Judd (Otto Roedel) and Kathleen Warfel (Mrs. Chiles). The Civil War will forever be an open wound upon the nation; but hopefully, as time goes on, it will be through the objective contemplations of filmmakers like Ang Lee and films like "Ride With the Devil" that will ultimately help to close the schism and promote healing. In light of more recent events, it is something that is sorely needed, worldwide. Film is a powerful medium; it can be educational as well as entertaining, and perhaps in the future more filmmakers, like Ang Lee, will embrace and promote a sense of unity through the sensitive depiction of the events and attitudes that make us what we are.