A great part of the movie was it's historical accuracy. Showing confederate soldiers without shoes and low on supplies, with the facts about the tributes to the group of cadets by the Virginia Military Institute today in the beginning and the end. It tells stories of perseverance, love, and sacrifice all at once. Right when it felt like it was starting to drag in the middle it threw a twist to keep things interesting. This movie is underrated, and a great showing of the side that isn't shown as often.

During this movie there were several problems, historically speaking. During the battle only 10 of the cadets died and it shows this at the end. But, during the battle it looks like half of them died, also in the movie several of the children's marching looked to be around the age of 10, the VMI website states that the youngest person to participate in the battle was 15. This is inaccurate and makes the south look worse for sending such small childrens into battle. Also I feel that Libby did not get the man she deserved. She was following around the army at such a young age and helping those who have been injured or dying only for the man she liked to be one of the 10 out of 257 that died. There was a 4% chance that her boyfriend would be dead. The odds were in her favor and the director was like "Yes, lets have the audience become attached to this couple and be emotionally invested. Now kill him." Yes, killing him makes this historically accurate and helps the story follow in the tragic play format such as a reverse minor Romeo and Juliet sub plot. Romeo dies and Juliet grieves but doesnt kill herself (that we know of and her Romeo doesn't come back to life). These film choices lead me to give this film one star. Only because I am too nice to give it zero.

Who directed this movie? Grapeshot after grapeshot were exploding inches from the attacking Confederates yet no one was falling. It's clear that this is an obvious attempt to glorify elitist Confederates. It also seems very low budget, as the battle scenes are what I'd expect from a pre-CGI time period. Tom Skerrit is the best part of the movie.

The movie focuses more on the aspects of war outside of the battlefield, and I think it doesn't quite focus enough on the hardships and conditions that real Confederate soldiers in the Civil War would have faced. Rather than showing the chaos and stress felt by soldiers, the film mainly portrays the soldiers as hopeful young men, filled with spirit and compassion. The movie does not give enough attention to the issue and debate of slavery during the war, and shows all the soldiers as kind and caring to the slaves in the South.The movie was overall pretty good, and showed in detail lots of the emotions of the soldiers fighting, and gave a different perspective when it showed the role of women in the war. In the Battle at New Market, I thought some of the acting and deaths were a bit over dramatic, but for the most part it was good."Field of Lost Shoes" was more interesting than other Civil War movies have been for me, as it focuses on youth while remaining mostly accurate.