Eight stars. If there is one short that encapsulates all of Griffith's views
on honor and loyalty, this is it. Griffith was a southerner, born in the
1870s. His father and grandfather were Confederate soldiers. And it's pretty
clear that he bought into the "Lost Cause" myth. But who does he make the
sympathetic core of the film? The family of a Union soldier. The hero is a
Confederate, but notice that neither side does anything horrific. Nor anything
particularly praise-worthy (until the end). Something modern viewers should
consider, watching this film, is that anyone in their 50s would remember the
Civil War in 1910. It wasn't history yet, it was memory. So making a war
movie that centers on family, and with sympathy for both sides, was a bold
act. 2 February 2024.
Review of In the Border States
