''Field of Lost Shoes'' is a 2014 American war drama film directed by Sean McNamara and written by Dave Kennedy and Thomas Farrell. The film stars

Nolan Gould Nolan Gould (born October 28, 1998) is an American actor known for his role as Luke Dunphy on the ABC sitcom ''Modern Family''. Early life and education Gould was born in New York City, the son of Angela and Edwin Gould. Shortly after his bi ...

Lauren Holly Lauren Holly (born October 28, 1963) is an American actress. She has played the roles of Deputy Sheriff Maxine Stewart in the television series ''Picket Fences'', NCIS Director Jenny Shepard in the series '' NCIS'', Dr. Betty Rogers on '' Motiv ...

Jason Isaacs Jason Isaacs (born 6 June 1963) is an English actor. Isaac's film roles include Col. Tavington in '' The Patriot'' (2000), Michael D. Steele in '' Black Hawk Down'' (2001), Lucius Malfoy in the ''Harry Potter'' film series (2002–2011), Ca ...

Tom Skerritt Thomas Roy Skerritt (born August 25, 1933) is an American actor who has appeared in over 40 films and more than 200 television episodes since 1962. He is known for his film roles in ''M*A*S*H'', ''Alien'', '' The Dead Zone'', '' Top Gun'', '' A ...

Keith David Keith David Williams (born June 4, 1956) is an American actor. He is known for his signature deep voice and commanding screen presence in over 300 roles across film, stage, television, and interactive media. He has starred in such films as '' T ...

and

David Arquette David Arquette (born September 8, 1971) is an American actor and former professional wrestler. He is best known for his role as Dewey Riley in the slasher film franchise ''Scream'', for which he won a Teen Choice Award and two Blockbuster En ...

. It is based on the true story of a group of cadets from the

Virginia Military Institute la, Consilio et Animis (on seal) , mottoeng = "In peace a glorious asset, In war a tower of strength""By courage and wisdom" (on seal) , established = , type = Public senior military college , accreditation = SACS , endowment = $696.8 mill ...

who participated in the

Battle of New Market The Battle of New Market was fought on May 15, 1864, in Virginia during the Valley Campaigns of 1864 in the American Civil War. A makeshift Confederate army of 4,100 men defeated the larger Army of the Shenandoah under Major General Franz S ...

against Union forces during the

American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states ...

. The battle was fought in the Shenandoah Valley of

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

on May 15, 1864. The film's title refers to the large number of soldiers' boots left on the battlefield due to the muddy conditions during the battle. Ten cadets died in the battle. The film was released in Europe under the title ''Battlefield of Lost Souls''.

Cast

Luke Benward Luke Aaron Benward (born May 12, 1995) is an American actor and singer. He is best known for his role as Will in the Disney film '' Cloud 9'' (2014). His first starring role was Billy Forrester in ''How to Eat Fried Worms'' (2006), and as Char ...

as John Wise *

as Mrs. Clinedinst. *

John C. Breckinridge John Cabell Breckinridge (January 16, 1821 – May 17, 1875) was an American lawyer, politician, and soldier. He represented Kentucky in both houses of Congress and became the 14th and youngest-ever vice president of the United States. Serving ...

as Ulysses S. Grant *

as Old Judge *

as Capt. Henry DuPont *

Michael Goodwin Michael Goodwin may refer to: * Michael Goodwin (architect), architect and politician in the Phoenix, Arizona area * Michael Goodwin (actor) Michael W. Goodwin (b. October 9, 1941, in Virginia, Minnesota) is an American character actor. He has app ...

as Secretary of State Seward *

Zach Roerig Zachary George Roerig (born February 22, 1985) is an American actor, known for his roles as Casey Hughes on ''As the World Turns'', Hunter Atwood on ''One Life to Live'' and Matt Donovan on ''The Vampire Diaries''. Early life Roerig was born i ...

as Jack Stanard * Gale Harold as Charles Semple *

Mary Mouser Mary Mouser is an American actress. She is best known for her role as Samantha LaRusso in the Netflix series ''Cobra Kai'', and Lacey Fleming on the ABC series ''Body of Proof''. She also took over the role of Karen Grant, Fitz & Mellie's daught ...

as Libby Clinedinst *

Josh Zuckerman Joshua Ryan Zuckerman (born April 1, 1985) is an American actor. He is known for playing Mark Cullin in the science fiction TV series ''Kyle XY'', Eddie Orlofsky in ''Desperate Housewives'' and Nate Marlowe in the comedy series ''Significant Moth ...

Moses Ezekiel Moses Jacob Ezekiel, also known as Moses "Ritter von" Ezekiel (October 28, 1844 – March 27, 1917), was an American sculptor who lived and worked in Rome for the majority of his career. Ezekiel was "the first American-born Jewish artist to r ...

as Robert / Sir Rat * Max Lloyd-Jones as Sam Atwill *

Sean Marquette Sean Marquette is an American actor, who is best known for his portrayal as Johnny Atkins in '' The Goldbergs'' and '' Schooled'', and for voicing Mac in the Cartoon Network show ''Foster's Home for Imaginary Friends'' (2004–2009). Life and ca ...

as Benjamin 'Duck' Colonna *

Erik Audé Erik Anthony Audé (born April 5, 1980) is an American actor, stuntman, restaurateur, and professional poker player who was arrested and imprisoned in Pakistan for alleged drug trafficking. Audé maintains that he was duped into carrying opium ...

as The Hawker *

Courtney Gains Courtney Gains (born August 22, 1965) is an American character actor best known for his portrayal of Malachai in the 1984 horror movie ''Children of the Corn''. Career Gains achieved success during the 1980s with a variety of roles in films such ...

as Capt. Chinook * Werner Daehn as Gen. Franz Sigel * Parker Croft as Thomas Garland Jefferson * Alexa Yeames as The Girl at the Dance * William Flaman as Doctor * Brandi Nicole Feemster as Martha Ann * Michael Krebs as

Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...

* Daniel Purcell as Extra in Bowtie

Production

The film's shooting locales include

Powhatan, Virginia Powhatan is a census-designated place in and the county seat of Powhatan County, Virginia, United States. Powhatan was initially known as Scottville (after Revolutionary war hero General Charles Scott), and historically has also been known as Pow ...

(VMI) and Lexington, Virginia. The film's world premiere was held on May 19, 2014 at the GI Film Festival.

Reception

Metacritic Metacritic is a website that aggregates reviews of films, TV shows, music albums, video games and formerly, books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created by Jason Dietz, Marc ...

the film has a score of a 28% based on reviews from 5 critics, indicating "generally unfavorable reviews." On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee, and Stephen Wang ...

it has a score of 40% based on reviews from 5 critics. The film was roundly criticized for its misleading depiction of Southern attitudes toward slavery. In a review of the film, Jeffrey Evan Brooks, author of alternate history novels about the Civil War, criticized the portrayal of the VMI cadets as being opposed to

slavery Slavery and enslavement are both the state and the condition of being a slave—someone forbidden to quit one's service for an enslaver, and who is treated by the enslaver as property. Slavery typically involves slaves being made to perf ...

. A reviewer for the Hollywood Reporter wrote "Amazingly, none of the staunch Southerners seem to hold any negative feelings toward blacks, defending the Institute’s beloved cook “Judge” (Keith David) from persecution and stopping to rescue a young slave woman trapped under a fallen carriage." Writing for the Orlando Sentinel, critic Roger Moore noted that "cadets sympathetically help slaves at every turn, even though this was the patrician class that insisted upon the war and the preservation of that 'peculiar institution.'" Nick Shager's review in The Village Voice was entitled "Civil War Drama Field of Lost Shoes Argues No Confederates Were Racist." Further criticism came in a 2019 report by Tom Nash and Kristin Reed on the government transparency news site

MuckRock MuckRock is a United States-based 501(c)(3) non-profit organization which assists anyone in filing governmental requests for information through the Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) and other public record laws around the United States, then p ...

. The authors, noting the revisionist nature of the film, found that the state of Virginia had given one million dollars in public money to fund the film.

References

External links

* {{Sean McNamara 2014 war drama films American Civil War films American war drama films Battle of New Market Brookwell McNamara Entertainment films Films about war crimes Films directed by Sean McNamara Films scored by Frederik Wiedmann Films set in 1864 Films set in Richmond, Virginia Films set in Virginia Films shot in Virginia Cultural depictions of Ulysses S. Grant Depictions of Abraham Lincoln on film 2014 drama films Lost Cause of the Confederacy 2010s English-language films 2010s American films