Field of Lost Shoes (2014)
Every year the Virginia Military Institute honors seventeen of its cadets who lost their lives in the Battle of New Market during the Civil War. New cadets, or “Brother Rats,” as they call each other, end their first week at the school with a recreation of the march taken by their fellow cadets in the battle, the history of which is portrayed in Field of Lost Shoes.
The band of brothers in the film are a pretty diverse group. One is an aspiring sculptor, another is looking to get married after the war, one is the son of the former governor of Virginia, one is a descendant of Thomas Jefferson. The youngest of the group, Robert, is the audience conduit and referred to as “Sir Rat” after a pretty grueling initiation. That scene really works hard to make the audience feel for Robert, maybe a little too much.
These cadets are a coddled bunch, sneaking into the bakery to steal bread in the dead of night and staying to make friends with VMI’s cook, Old Judge. When Old Judge is whipped and threatened with hanging for stealing food, the boys go to bat for him and confess their late-night pantry raids. The also talk their way into a house adjacent to the VMI which just happens to be full of pretty girls.
In the meantime, of course, there’s a war going on, and the boys find out they may have to go to the front lines because General John Breckenridge is very short-handed and there’s a chance the Union might take the Shanandoah Valley. Originally the kids are supposed to stay with the reserves, but there’s a wide gap in the line that the general has to bridge or the Union Army will break through. Our heroes aren’t content with just filling a space, though, and when they see a chance for a decisive move they take it.
The film has been criticized by some in the media for being too revisionist because the characters’ real-life counterparts aren’t exactly like their onscreen portrayals, and on one hand they have a point. Since the movie didn’t change most of the names, it would have behooved the filmmakers to keep to the historical record as much as possible.
However, Field of Lost Shoes isn’t a docudrama and what we see are likely composite characters, which we all know is a common dramatic license when adapting real-life events because story and time limits have to be taken into account. As one of my lit professors used to say, the reason no one writes plays and films exactly from life is because it takes a long time for things to happen. In between those times, there’s a lot of nothing. If we posted ourselves at our neighbors’ windows and watched everything they did expecting to be entertained, we would be bored stiff.
By the way, don’t peek in your neighbor’s windows, not that any of you would, but I have to say it. It’s creepy and they can have you arrested. Seriously, don’t go there. Anywhoo…
In my opinion, the film’s main drawback is that it’s a slightly idealized version of the battle, but only slightly, as it does show body parts out on the field, but since it was a TV movie there was a lot that had to be left out or merely hinted at. And a lot of the extras’ costumes look like they came from a western wear store.
Another problem I have is that the film doesn’t make clear whose point of view the story is from. It starts out with Governor Wise taking John to a slave auction so the boy can see how heartless the slave industry really was, and then after teeny bit of narration we’re at the Virginia Military Institute and see the older John coming into the room at the end of Robert’s initiation. He just enters the room all of a sudden, when a better method would have been having him sit there the whole time observing the proceedings and only making himself known when the group gives his credentials. The haphazardry makes the scene lose a lot of punch.
Other than that, I have few complaints. No, the film isn’t great. It isn’t meticulously accurate. However, it tells a compelling story while respecting the history on most levels, and that’s what counts in the end.
Field of Lost Shoes is currently available to stream on Amazon Prime. Rated PG-13.
My grade: B-
Principal Cast: Jason Isaacs, David Arquette, Courtney Gaines, Tom Skerritt, Keith David, Luke Benward, Sean Marquette, Michael Krebs, Nolan Gould, Josh Zuckerman, Mary Mouser, Lauren Holly
Directed by Sean McNamara.
Written by Thomas Farrell and David M. Kennedy.