Jake’s reasons for defying his father to fight with the South have less to do with political conviction, quite obviously, than with pure youthful rebelliousness, and the fact that his friends—especially Jack Bull—are on the secessionist side. The gang’s life is hard and constantly perilous but also full of breathless excitement, and its personalities are varied. Besides the snakelike, implacably cruel Mackeson, they include the aristocratic George Clyde (Simon Baker) and his cohort, the former slave Daniel Holt (Jeffrey Wright), who fights alongside him.
Holt grew up near Clyde, and the two are close from childhood. After Clyde bought Holt and gave him his freedom, Holt followed his friend to war. The quiet intensity of this friendship is one of the film’s richest touches, and the phenomenon of a black man fighting for the South is more true to history than simplistic notions of the war would suggest. Indeed,such details are essential to Lee and Schamus’s strategy (following Woodrell) of showing us the Civil War at its fractious geographic and human margins, no matter how much this might jar against latter-day pieties.
Jake不服从父亲而为南方作战与其说是出于政治上的信服，还不如说是纯粹的年轻人的反抗意识，而且他的朋友们-尤其是Jack Bull - 都在独立主义者这一边。这帮人的生活是困难的，有着持续的危险，但同时又充满了无比的兴奋。团伙里的人性格各异，包括那个像蛇一样无情冷酷的Pitt Mackeson；和贵族式的George Clyde 以及他的同伴 - 被解放了的奴隶 Daniel Holt。
Holt 和 Clyde一起长大，从小就是好朋友。这友情所具有的安静的强度是本片最丰富的触点之一。黑人为南军作战这一现象也比后来被简化了的战争概念更真实的反映了历史。事实上，这样的细节对于李安和Schamus的策略是不可或缺的：他们要展示这场战争特有的急躁的地理和人文的边界，不管这将如何触怒后世的虔诚者们。
Holt grew up near Clyde, and the two are close from childhood. After Clyde bought Holt and gave him his freedom, Holt followed his friend to war. The quiet intensity of this friendship is one of the film’s richest touches, and the phenomenon of a black man fighting for the South is more true to history than simplistic notions of the war would suggest. Indeed,such details are essential to Lee and Schamus’s strategy (following Woodrell) of showing us the Civil War at its fractious geographic and human margins, no matter how much this might jar against latter-day pieties.
Jake不服从父亲而为南方作战与其说是出于政治上的信服，还不如说是纯粹的年轻人的反抗意识，而且他的朋友们-尤其是Jack Bull - 都在独立主义者这一边。这帮人的生活是困难的，有着持续的危险，但同时又充满了无比的兴奋。团伙里的人性格各异，包括那个像蛇一样无情冷酷的Pitt Mackeson；和贵族式的George Clyde 以及他的同伴 - 被解放了的奴隶 Daniel Holt。
Holt 和 Clyde一起长大，从小就是好朋友。这友情所具有的安静的强度是本片最丰富的触点之一。黑人为南军作战这一现象也比后来被简化了的战争概念更真实的反映了历史。事实上，这样的细节对于李安和Schamus的策略是不可或缺的：他们要展示这场战争特有的急躁的地理和人文的边界，不管这将如何触怒后世的虔诚者们。
