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 ng Lee's 1999 movie "Ride with the Devil" is a
hard movie to take. Not hard because it's difficult to understand the film's
themes of identity and loyalty, but because the movie is about Southern
"Bushwhackers" (i.e. guerilla fighters) during the Civil War, and the
film's heroes are, essentially, Bushwhackers. In this age of political
correctness, making a movie about the Civil War and having your heroes wear
anything but the blue uniforms of a Union soldier is sacrilege. As such,
"Ride with the Devil" was ignored in its initial release 4 years ago.
This is a shame because "Devil" is, in many respects, a better movie
than "Crouching Tiger,
Hidden Dragon", the film that would finally catapult Lee into
mainstream stardom.
"Devil" stars a young Tobey Maguire ("Spiderman")
as Jake Roedel, the son of a German immigrant who, along with childhood friend
Jack Bull (Skeet Ulrich), runs off to join the Bushwhackers at the outbreak of
the Civil War. For Jake, joining the guerillas is more out of loyalty to Jack
Bull than any real commitment to the cause of the South. (Jake comes from a poor
family, doesn't own slaves, and his German heritage is constantly used against
him by the other Bushwhackers, who calls him "Dutchie".) It's during
the bloody days of the fighting and the isolated winters when the Bushwhackers
"hibernate" that young Jake, who has killed 15 men before his 19th
birthday, begins to develop his own identity.
The most interesting thing about "Devil" is just
how unsympathetic James Schamus' screenplay (adapted from the novel by Daniel
Woodrell) is. The film never leans too much toward any one side, but manages to
straddle the fence by centering itself with the education of Jake Roedel. The
whole notion of right and wrong is further muddled when Jake encounters Holt
(Jeffrey Wright), a freed black slave fighting with the Bushwhackers. With his
freedom paid for by another Bushwhacker name George (Simon Baker), Holt has
joined the racist Southerners out of loyalty, just like Jake. It's only when the
chains of loyalty have been severed that the two men begin to realize they're
lost souls.
"Ride with the Devil" is a Civil War period
movie, but there's no big military battles for you Civil War aficionados out
there. Although that doesn't mean there isn't any action. The movie features a
couple of brutal gun battles and a major engagement later on in the movie when
Holt and Jake joins up with Quantrell's raiders on the real-life (and infamous)
Bushwhacker's bloody revenge campaign through Lawrence, Kansas. But like all of
Ang Lee's movies, "Devil" doesn't end with a major physical
confrontation, but rather with self-realization and renewed purpose.
Besides Lee and collaborator Schamus' usual good work,
"Devil" has an extremely good cast to work with. Long hair and dirty,
Tobey Maguire is believable as the teen killer who isn't exactly sure why he's a
Bushwhacker. Jonathan Rhys-Meyers ("Bend
It like Beckham") is also effective as the smiling killer who seems to
have joined up with the guerillas out of a need to satisfy his homicidal
impulses rather than for a cause. The movie's real standout is Jeffrey Wright
("D-tox"), who
does the best work of his career as a freed slave who is nevertheless still
enslaved by his loyalties to the man who purchased his "freedom". Pop
singer Jewel plays a war widow and actually proves to be quite a good actress;
it's a mystery why she hasn't acted again.
At over 2 hours long, "Ride with the Devil" may
be a bit long for some people. Like all of Lee's movies (with the possible
exception of "Crouching
Tiger, Hidden Dragon"), "Devil" moves at a leisurely pace
that and the calm is only interrupted by the occasional gun battle.
The film is less a movie about the Civil War than it is about loyalty and
self-identity.
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