Love & Valor - The Intimate Civil War Letters

Country: U S A

Director: Charles Larimer

Runtime: 01:27:48

Cast: Brian Pittman (Lead Actor), Ann Cejka (Lead Actor), Brian Dennehy (Voice), Rom Barkhordar (Voice), Patti Voglino (Voice), Charles Larimer (Voice)

Category: all documentaries

Short Synopsis: The movie, narrated by Brian Dennehy, is a dramatic story of the American Civil War as told through the actual letters of a Union Captain from Iowa and his wife. Based on the book 'Love and Valor - Intimate Civil War Letters Between Captain Jacob and Emeline Ritner,' which was featured by the Smithsonian in the month after 9/11. Captain Jacob Ritner was a teacher, farmer and abolitionist before the war. Emeline remained home to raise four small children and manage the family farm. Their story is also a story of community. As Jacob tells stories of young soldiers under his command, Emeline relates the stories of their parents back in Iowa. Also includes the strange stories of how their great great grandson, filmmaker Charles Larimer, found their letters.

Detailed Synopsis: The movie, narrated by Brian Dennehy, is based on the book 'Love and Valor - Intimate Civil War Letters Between Captain Jacob and Emeline Ritner,' which was featured by the Smithsonian in the month after 9/11. Ritner, a Union captain from Iowa, was a teacher, farmer and abolitionist before the war. The movie tells of their devotion to each other, patriotism, loneliness, anguish at the death of loved ones, and slavery. Em raising four small children, managing the family farm, dealing with other women in town. Jacob witnessing death of family and friends, participating in great adventure, seeing new lands, changing views on the South. The movie is narrated by Tony Award winning actor Brian Dennehy. Jacob and Emeline's great great grandson, Charles Larimer, also as a narrator, tells the strange stories about how he found the letters. He tells most of his stories in cemeteries by the actual graves of the people mentioned in the letters. He also tells strange stories on how he found additional information about some of the people featured in the letters, including a young run-away slave whom Jacob Ritner met in Mississippi in 1862 during the Vicksburg campaign, and the Ice Merchant of Savannah who hosted Jacob Ritner for Christmas dinner in 1864 at the end of Sherman's March to the Sea. The Civil War scenes are shown in sepia, while the parallel stories of finding the letters and other important information of the story are done in color.