Writer Director

Near the outskirts of Gettysburg, at the trot, my horse moved into a column of twos toward our General as staff neared a stone farmhouse. We crossed a wooden bridge, battle flag whipping as it's bearer spurred his horse ahead, past split rail fence bordering well tended fields, to the sound of canon evermore enveloped in rolling clouds of black powder smoke. At the long porch of an ancient house a family witnesses the looming battle begun in their front yard, awestruck, as our fife and drum strikes up Dixie and the white bearded man astride his gray mount, staff in tow, arrives on the field of battle. Through fields and woods as far as the eye can see a line of some thirteen thousand Confederates, with battle flags of countless regiments thrusts forward, slowly moving like an unwieldy serpent toward the distant sea of Yankees shouting, Lee, Lee, Lee, with a swelling and thunderous voice of one.

The acrid smell of gunpowder, cacophony of military sounds, horses whinnying, clanking metal, fife and drum, canon, the spirited shouting of legions of men and muskets evolving to the Rebel yell, all this, my first introduction to battle in the style of what most call the Civil War. When writing the screenplay for Rebel Private, I was offered the opportunity to ride with the Texas Brigade (reenactors) in order to achieve point of view like no other possible. At various reenactments such as Gettysburg and Shiloh, sleeping on the ground, with extremes of weather from freezing to the unbearable heat of a wool uniform in July, less than gourmet food, no chance to bathe for days and often living out of what can be carried on the horse, I began to understand first hand what the Southern soldier endured. However, unlike they who persevered over four years, I was able to leave after only five days, worn, yet proud of my heritage. Such experience brings, in some small way, a focused reality to writing and filming for this project.

Researching a great-great grandfather, who in 1860 was a Texas Ranger, evolving to Confederate cavalry, I found too little information to write a historical screenplay. Through that quest for the right story, the memoirs of William Fletcher, "Rebel Private Front and Rear", was discovered. A Texan, I have had a lifelong passion for history, combined with romantic vision aesthetically and heartfelt understanding of Southerners of the time. Rebel Private will offer a new and sensitive, Southern point of view to the war.

As a commercial director/cameraman for twenty years in Los Angeles, ( mounted, to the right of "General Lee" above picture ) working domestically and on foreign assignment, a strong sense of graphic design and the quality of light evolved toward a deep and fervent desire to do something more creatively rewarding. Through film story telling of original work, Rebel Private became the result. With today's general focus on the Southern effort as negative, it is my intention to openly and honestly portray the common Southern man of the time, shedding light on the historical reality of states rights and what such men so nobly pursued. Rebel Private will stimulate raw emotion through visceral intimate combat contrasted by the innocent coming of age of a band of young Southern boys propelled into history by war and unrequited love. They are the universal soldier. You will cry, you will laugh and you will perhaps think differently about the poignant experience of their lives.

Chuck Untersee
Writer/Director
Director's Guild of America