Sarcastic little Jethro is right in thinking that 'this year of 1863 is a fine, carefree time for eleven-year-old boys' (9.115)… by which he really means that it is so not a great time to be a kid. And while our story takes places between 18, political emotions were brewing long before that. The term copperhead (which is hurled at the Creightons a few times) is a derogatory term for people who lived in the north but wanted to call a truce with the south. And just so you know, Missouri and Kentucky historically stay Union while Tennessee turns Confederate, thereby further complicating attitudes about the war in the Creightons' community.Īnd attitudes are the dividing factor in the war- not state lines. That's his way of saying that residents of southern Illinois also have deep roots in other neighboring states. The Creightons live in Jasper County, Illinois, right on the cusp of the South-so close, in fact, that Matt would guess that 'eighty percent of the folks in this part of the country count Missouri or Kaintuck or Tennessee as somehow bein' their own' (2.11). Kevin Meyer did an excellent job of plunging into the heart of the audience and keeping them riveted.Time to dust off those maps of the United States. As far as getting their point across, they did very well. Between the poor lighting, grainy visuals, and 'shoty' acting I'd give Across Five Aprils a star and a half on production. This film could be appreciated by some, but I feel that the vast majority of the audience would be too vain for it to appeal to them.

Between the hatred brewing in a small town and deaths of loved ones all over the spectrum, it is clear what horrible things a war can do to a group of close knit folks in the nineteenth century. This thought is expressed well throughout the film. The president responds in a letter which guides him some, but more or less provides him with comfort when a nine year old is in the midst of war, what is more important? The central idea of this film, I believe, is to show how devastatingly a civil war can strike a family. He writes Abraham Lincoln for advice on the matter. Should he fight for the Yankees, the Rebs, or just continue working on the farm? He has a cousin who is a deserter which he helps with food and a blanket this is a crime not taken lightly. This makes things difficult when his kin fights for the Union Army, as well as the Rebel cause. Helping his father farm is all he really knows.

Jethro Creighton (Todd Duffey) is a young man of nine years from Southern Illinois who is growing up during the outbreak of the American Civil War. In this film director Kevin Meyer puts Irene Hunt's book Across Five Aprils to the big screen.

Across 5 aprils book