Civil War flick about what happens when you bring the war back home with you
An ex-Confederate soldier (James Badge Dale) shows up at his dead sister’s rural abode in central Texas where he butts heads with his peaceable brother-in-law (Ethan Embry) and stands up to the corruption of a neighboring patriarch (William Forsythe) and his retarded son. Meanwhile the niece (Maika Monroe) is having secret meetings with the cowardly boy of the other family (Rhys Wakefield).
“Echoes of War” (2015) is a realistic post-Civil War Western that shows what happens when an ex-soldier brings the war back with him. It’s cut from the same cloth as “Pharaoh's Army” (1995) and “Sommersby” (1993). “Ride with the Devil” (1999) and “Cold Mountain” also come to mind. It’s a slow-build rural drama with feud-ish Hatfield & McCoy elements, but you can bank on blazing confrontations in the final act.
James Badge Dale is captivating in the central figure, pretty much on the level of Brando (seriously). Meanwhile Maika is entrancingly fair. Like “Pharaoh’s Army” everything smacks of real life. While the movie’s no doubt low-budget, it doesn’t seem like it at all. The filmmaking is thoroughly professional with a pleasing sense of aesthetics. The negative 1-Star shill reviews are absurd; pay no mind to them (the producers must’ve ticked off the catering service). There’s a brief sex scene, but it goes with the realism of the picture; it’s not raunchy or sleazy at all, just realistic and mature. It’s life… and death.
The film runs 1 hour, 44 minutes and was probably shot in Austin & Bastrop, Texas.
GRADE: A-/B+
