excelent movie that anyone interested in the civil war should watch many interesting twist in the story. A must watch for all

Great film,never shown in the UK to my knowledge which is a great shame.

During 1861-1864 in the U.S. Civil War, Union Soldiers who were Prisoners were sent to the Confederate Prison in Andersonville, Georgia. It is estimated that thousands of prisoners were held in overwhelming numbers for the facility. and over 2,000 prisoners died from illness. Today, the graves at the cemetery there bear witness to this inhumane tragedy. The Prison was discovered after the fall of Atlanta, during U.S. General Sherman's march to the sea. There was one stream that ran through the prison, and Confederate Prison Guards were upstream who used the water for bathing, a latrine, while animals drinking, dropping manure or leaving urine in the water. For drinking water, the captured Union Soldiers wringed rainwater from their clothes or drippings. There were roving, thieving union gangs called Raiders and secret tunnels unknown to Prison Guards.Haunting scenes of conflict and inhumanity included young Southern boys just starting puberty who were Prison Guards (just as ruthless as the Hitler Jugend under the Nazi SS in WW II Germany and the trial that brought the Raiders to justice. The Prison Commandant, Captain Wirz, waseven severely criticized by some of his own Southern Military Commanders for not using Parole or Prisoner Exchanges to correct the deplorable conditions. Ironically, Wirz did have moments of humaneness, when he informed the Union Authorities that the Prison was no place for young pre-adolescent boys (not in puberty) and arranged for them to be paroled, and escorted North under a White Flag of Truce to Union Soldier lines. Several boys were saved from certain death. Captain Wirz was Swiss (or German?) in nationality.During the Civil War, President Abraham Lincoln issued the famous "Lieber Code" - a rule book for Union Forces in Battle. The Lieber Code stated:"the unarmed person is to be spared in person, property and honor as much as the exigencies of war will admit." This was applied to both civilians and prisoners. Violations of the "Lieber Code" under the command of Captain Wirz were cited that led to his Union military court martial conviction and execution. As proof the United States had a long history to take precautions to avoid harming civilians and prisoners during and after armed combat, the "Lieber" Code was cited during the famous International War Crimes Trials at Nuremberg, during the 1940s.True, this movie is not a documentary and there is "Hollywood" influences. Nevertheless the master moviemaker John Frankenheimer directed this movie that enables any person with a basic grade school education to grasp the epic message of life inside the most notorious of the American Civil War's prison camps. Well done, and worthy of an Emmy and several 5 Gold Star Ratings! Evil is irrational and I will never understand how Americans abused or killed Americans during the Civil War. Never Again!

excellent buy

A fantastic story of survival in a Rebel prison camp during the U.S. Civil War. One expects the guards to be cruel but the group of fellow prisoners that robbed and beat their own were more despicable. A very good story.