Yes, it's long. Yes, it's tragic. Yes, it's historical. & Yes, I loved it!

Renee Zellwegger did a superb job with her character, as did the rest of the very talented cast. I especially enjoyed seeing Jack White, of the White Stripes, play a southern deserter with a guit-fiddle.

If you like car chases & boobies, don't bother. But if you like real character & plot development, along with a wonderful soundtrack of blue grass & sacred harp singing, check it out. It's kind of a gothic O Brother Where Art Thou, set in the civil war.

Oh, Natalie Portman did a really good job, too, but check the deleted scenes to see what really happens to her character. They cut it... probably due to it's incredibly depressing nature.

My two cents.

It was a good story I had a few problems with the way the homeguard took on the standard western gang who run ruff shod over a town full of people who survive by their ability to use guns especially in a region that was famous for the civilians chasing away both armies, the now standard depictions of the union soldiers as souless murdering machines that would make a death camp nazi go "wait a minute lets calm down here." And the ending was anoying in its slow inevabilty(and its Harvest Moon tint).

All the actors did really well though there was alot of 20/21 century ideas that infected the script. Portman did a good job (didnt see the cut scene, will have to rent it again), Actually there were quite a few nude scenes I thought, and checking out the opening battle scenes (thought they would run through the whole movie) was the initial reason for me watching it.

Loved the fact that almost every actor from 28 days was in this, and when they played the song with the white stripe guy it sound exactly like Blackgrass.

For me I give it a C+ to B- (which wasnt an option on the poll).