Copperhead is unlike any Civil War movie to date. It is a film of the war at home—of a family ripped apart by war. A story of the violent passions and burning feuds that set ablaze the homefront during the Civil War, Copperhead the movie is also a timeless and deeply moving examination of the price of dissent, the place of the individual amidst the hysteria of wartime, and the awful cost of war—a cost measured not in dollars but in fractured families, broken loves, and men dead before their time.
Though the tale, based on a novel by Harold Frederic, remains relevant to our time, the film is too self-conscious and tedious for the message it delivers.
Maxwell and Kauffman merit praise for acknowledging historical complexity, but the film's moral and aesthetic limitations keep Copperhead from entering this realm.
For this audience, Ron Maxwell's film will prove entertaining and though-provoking, at the very least. For the rest, it is unlikely to provide much dramatic sustenance.
If every war has more than one side, this story of one man who dares to stand against the tide of history has a contemporary relevance that remains uncontested.
Its budgetary limitations show. Many scenes could have used additional takes to polish the performances, and the often-poor sound recording is a shortcoming, particularly with stylized period dialogue. The leads show surprisingly little range.
There's a good story to be told somewhere in here, but they just couldn't get at it, choosing to stretch out and suffocate what good material they had, resulting in a bland and tedious tale that would fail to engage even the most avid history buff.
