The Friendly Persuasion: Why You Should Care

The movie Friendly Persuasion attempts to make the Civil War real to viewers. It has some strengths and some flaws. Some of the strengths and flaws are in the way it was filmed. Some of them however are in the story.
The first strength is seen when the soldier comes to the meeting house on “First Day”. More than likely if there was a shortage of troops and a battle was expected they would go to the area were the battle would be to scout out recruits. Some men who didn’t join the army might be willing to help if it would mean their families would be safer.
In the soldier’s arrival at the meeting house there is also a flaw. If he really wanted to get Quaker recruits he probably would have had more respect for their religion. He probably would have waited until after the meeting was over, and not challenged their minister, and not called them cowards. And if he did do those things they probably would have found a way to politely ask him to leave. They might have said something to the effect of: you are welcome to stay, but if you do, please respect the customs of our meeting house while doing so.
The second strength comes during the battle while Mrs. Birdwell and her two youngest children are at home. When the soldiers ride up onto her property Mrs. Birdwell wants to protect her children and their home but is unwilling to fight. If she had refused the soldiers they would have taken what they wanted and might have hurt the Birdwells in the process. However, by offering all she had freely, they took what she gave them peaceably. Here is where the strength is. That is probably what the soldiers would really have done. They would have been foolish to take what they could have gotten freely and to hurt the Birdwells and their house anyway, all this would do would get them more hate from e the people in the area and they would have gained nothing that they couldn’t have gotten otherwise.
The second flaw is seen in the battle. Before the battle actually begins two scouts on horseback come before the rest of the troops to look out for union army troops. All the union troops are hiding behind something so that the scouts will go back to the confederate leaders and say that there are no union troops at the river. This way the union soldiers will be able to perform a surprise attack on the confederate troops. However, the scouts if real would probably have been smart enough and known enough of even the simplest military tactics to know that there might be troops behind the bushes. Knowing this they could have looked behind the bushes or shot into the bushes to see if there was someone hiding in them. Here, of course, is the flaw. In the movie the scouts just look around and seeing no one go back to there leaders. Soon after this the confederate troops come out.
The movie Friendly Persuasion has its strengths and its flaws. It has them especially in its attempt to make the Civil War real to viewers. Some of the strengths and flaws are in the way it was filmed. Some of them however are in the story. All in all however, the movie was pretty good.