The depiction of America in 1898, the slowly healing wounds from the Civil War (in the South), the coming together of men of different backgrounds, as well as the apparently realistic battle scenes combine to make this one of the best Turner films in recent years. I would recommend it to anyone interested in Teddy Roosevelt or Bucky O'Neil or in the Spanish-American War and the economic (and idealistic) American view of Cuba at the time. The characters emerge as real people and the viewer forgets for a moment that it's a film.