Arts
Daily Nebraskan Wednesday, January 17,2001 Page 5
New memoir a detailed, artistic account
BY SHARON KOLBET
In 1994, an art dealer approached
the Virginia Historical Society with
four scrapbooks of Civil War watercol
or maps and drawings made by Union
soldier Robert Knox Sneden. The pre
viously unknown paintings had been
sitting in a bank vault in Connecticut
since the Great Depression.
Soon after the purchase of the
albums, the historical society learned
of a 5,000-page illustrated memoir by
the same author that had been lan
guishing in a storage unit in Arizona.
Together, the narrative and art consti
tute one of the most important addi
tions to Civil War literature.
A small edited portion of Sneden’s
prolific memoir and extensive paint
ings appear in die publication of “Eye
of the Storm: A Civil War Odyssey.”
With the release of “Eye of the
Storm,” historians have a chance to
glimpse into the life of a Union private
who witnessed the second battie of
Bull Run and also survived
Andersonville, the Confederacy’s
notorious, overcrowded and under
stocked prison.
“September 71864: Fine weather,
but very hot, 110 degrees anywhere in
the shade. This terrible heat helps to
kill us off at the rate of 100 per day
inside the stockade. Dead men may be
seen by the score lying all along the
brook which runs through the filthy
swamp, while others are tearing off
their soiled clothes to get thread from
the seams."
Sneden writes with an analytical
detachment and avoids elaborate
Victorian prose. His straightforward
style gives an immediacy to the
events, grabbing the reader with the
brutality of the war.
“July 1,1862... The house was now
being filled with our wounded, while
our surgeons were hard at work ampu
tating limbs, which were in a ghastly
heap near the house, [having been]
thrown out of the windows by the assis
tants.”
Working as a architect and engi
neer in civilian life, Sneden gained his
commanders attention with his skills
as a mapmaker. That eye for detail can
be seen in his unromantic view of the
war as well as his meticulous draw
ings.
During his time of military service,
the Union cartographer took care to
guard his maps and notes. When
preparing to be transferred from
Andersonville to another prison,
Robert Knox Sneden
'One of the most complete narratives of Civil War history, Robert Knox Sneden also provided
drawings of his encounters during the war.
bneden used pme gum to glue togeth
er pages of his New Testament to con
ceal some of his smaller sketches.
7 now began secreting my sketches,
maps, etc. in my clothing sewed patch
es over some, made a false top to my
cap, sewing the smallest between the
linings, and... made soles for my shoes
in which I sewed the most important.”
While Sneden often had to forage
for paper and ink, his ability to write
and sometimes forge important docu
ments brought him the extra food
rations that helped him survive his
stay in Andersonville.
In December of 1886, Sneden, m
broken health, returned from prison
to his family who had assumed he was
dead. He spent the remainder of his
life perfecting his memoir and hoped
to see it published.
During his lifetime, the second
volume of the five part memoir was
lost to fire. After his death, the surviv
ing volumes and paintings remained
hidden from public view. But with the
rediscovery of Sneden’s lost works, the
modem reader has the opportunity to
view some of the most important Civil
War documents ever produced.
Jake Gillespie/DN
Historical
society starts
movie series
■ Hollywood epics"Glory"and''Gettysburg'are
included in Civil War cinema, as well as some
lesser-known James Stewart work.
BY CRYSTAL K.W1EBE
A
The Civil War defined the future of America,
but is often overlooked in theaters.
The Nebraska State Historical Society’s Civil
War Cinema is a film festival comprised of those
movies that were inspired by the war. Starting Jan.
21a different film will be shown each week at the
Museum of Nebraska History, 15th and E
Movies start at 2 p.m. Admission is free and
seating is limited to 100.
The 1951 film, “The Red Badge of Courage,’’
kicks off the festival.
Based on the novel by Stephen Crane and
directed by Academy Award-winner John Huston,
the movie stars Audie Murphy, a veteran of World
Warn.
UNL History Professor Peter Maslowski said
the highly decorated Murphy returned from the
war to become “of all things, a movie star,” but was
haunted by his war experience all his life.
“Friendly Persuasion,” showing Jan. 28, is the
story of pacifist Quakers dealing with their own
aversion to war.
In the 1956 film, Gary Cooper and Dorothy
McGuire are troubled when their son decides to
enlist in the Union Army.
On Feb. 4, the festival’s most obscure film
showcases some of actor James Stewart's early
work.
Andrea Faling, NSHS Library/Archives
Associate Director and State Archivist, said "Of
Human Hearts” is about an army physician called
by President Lincoln to the White House after he
fails to write to his mother.
“Glory,” a 1989 film starring Matthew
Broderick and Denzel Washington and directed by
Edward Zwick, tells the story of black soldiers in
the 54th Massachusetts Volunteer Infantry.
The longest film in the series, “Gettysburg,” is
about the famous battle of the same name and
stars Jeff Daniels.
Part I and II of the movie will be shown on suc
cessive Sundays, Feb. 18 and 25.
Faling called Clint Eastwood’s 1971 film, “The
Beguiled,” a predecessor to Stephen King’s
Please see CINEMA on 6
BY SARAH SUMNER
To dance is to live for Sarah Johnson,
played by Julia Stiles of "10 Things I Hate
About You.” A product of a single-mother
home and a jazz-musician father, she is
enthralled with a passion for ballet in
"Save The Last Dance.”
Her dreams are cut short when her
audition for Juliard goes awry and her
mother is killed in a car accident. She goes
to live with her father (Terry Kinney) in a
Chicago slum and finds herself in an all
black school.
Interracial love plays a large part in
"Save The Last Dance.” The relationship
between Sarah and Derek, played by Sean
Patrick Thomas, starts as anger, develops
into friendship and fires into love, which
makes more than a few people’s heads
spin by their lack of interest in the racial
separation of the neighborhood.
Thomas plays the most well-rounded
character in the cast He has his life with
his family, friends, school, and goals for
the future. He expresses emotion, not
whining and gritting of teeth. Thomas
surely looked into the recesses of his char
acter to show some depth in his perform
ance.
Within the time “Save The Last
Dance” has to develop its characters, it
does not do a quality representation.
Stiles tries to imbue her character with
depth and pain. As with practically every
character in the movie, it does not come
off well.
The underlying story of her mother’s
death and her dysfunctional relationship
with her father is not resolved until the last
moments of the movie, which is probably
because the movie would only be an hour
if it wasn't done that way.
As with every movie role Stiles is in,
she is moody and acts pissed off. She is a
dry actor and has a terminal need to light
en up and look more into creating a char
acter with personality than to be harsh
and subject herself to being distasteful in
the eyes of the audience.
School life is glossed over by the direc
tor, Thomas Carter. Where to be and what
crowd to run in are given to the lead char
acter as a gift so that she can get over her
fears of school and try to dive into the
fears of life.
Sarah does run into tough times, but
she easily assimilates herself with new
Mends. She is accepted in a world of dif
ferences right away. She rolls with the
punches of class and tries to learn from
the examples set forth by people she
befriends at school.
It is a typical MTV production with
high melodrama and so-called familiar
situations. The music is extremely good,
containing K-Ci and Jojo and Lucy Pearl. It
meshes well with the dance clubs, heart
break, pain and happiness.
Too bad they couldn’t have done the
same with the writing. The movie was typ
ical. Typical situations, typical love story,
typical woman being saved by a young,
good-looking man. The damsel in distress
line has been thrown out so many times,
and surprisingly the bait is still being
grabbed, mostly by 12-year-old girls.
Though the story brings about the
problems of segregation of race, crime
and dreams that need to be accom
plished, it does itself injustice by contain
ing such cheesy situations.
The movie flows on one level until the
last five minutes of the show and then
drops off like an anchor to rest in your
mind as rusty baggage.
“Save the Last Dance” is a movie that is
marketed to junior high students, but it is
trying to make a statement to society as
well, and it comes off as a joke. The movie
could have made a striking point with bet
ter writing and development
It hits a chord with the love story and
good looking people with the younger
audiences, but leaves those who pay
attention to the quality of a movie bade at
the starting line.
“Save die Last Dance” Starring Julia
Stiles and Sean Patrick Thomas. Directed
by Thomas Carter. Rated PG-13 (adult
language). Playing at CinemaIWin.