Copperhead: A worthy effort featuring local talent

I was privileged to watch Monday’s showing of Copperhead at the Bigfork Children’s Theatre.

The movie featured Bigfork’s own Casey Brown in an independent film about the Civil War. Only this movie didn’t include any battle scenes. Rather it focused on the drama among families in a small community in upstate New York.

The fictional work was based on a novel by Harold Frederic of the same name. It is easily believable as something that could have or did happen.

Brown’s character, Jeff Beech, is the son of Abner Beech, a Copperhead, a northern Democrat who opposed the Civil War, advocated peace, and believed that Abraham Lincoln subverted the Constitution in numerous ways.

Some of Abner Beech’s complaints about Lincoln included him shutting down northern newspapers with which he disagreed. Think about that and imagine our current president doing something similar. He has bewailed Fox News and Rush Limbaugh on several occasions. Would he take the next step?

It’s not politically correct to criticize Lincoln in a country that has essentially lionized him, but if one wants to study the issue, one simply needs to look up “Abraham Lincoln, constitution violations” on the Internet. It’s scary to think about how these First Amendment infringements could happen today. Imagine living in the time of the Civil War when these things actually happened.

Copperhead brings it home.

Students of history should enjoy the film.

As someone who supports the popular sovereignty idea of Lincoln’s opponent, Illinois Sen. Stephen Douglas, it was refreshing to see a Civil War story told that raised Constitutional issues.

In comments to the audience of 400-plus after Monday’s showing, Brown spoke of how much he enjoyed acting in a movie whose theme he supported. I don’t know if Brown supports the ideas of Abner Beech, but I would assume he favors the open debate featured in the movie, without the violence.

Violence occurred when a group of citizens became upset following the election of a Democrat, Horatio Seymour, as governor of New York.

In that election, Beech and his hired hand, Timothy Hurley, literally had to fight some men after Hurley, an Irish immigrant, was denied the right to vote. Hurley had apparently used the same identification document in several previous elections, but this time an election staffer denied him the right. A fight ensued as Beech and Hurley were leaving the polling place when they were surrounded by a crowd of angry partisans. After Beech and Hurley got the best of them, Hurley was allowed to vote when the election staffer was replaced.

After Seymour and other New York Democrats were elected, supporters of the war became enraged after seeing Beech’s celebratory bonfire, which was on his own property. An angry mob gathered outside Beech’s home and set it on fire.

For those who like love stories, Copperhead has that too. Jeff Beech and the object of his affections, Esther Hagadorn, the daughter of fervent abolitionist and Radical Republican, Jee Hagadorn, are one of the focal points. Jeff joins the Army, much to his father’s dismay, but is injured and later returns.

Ni Hagadorn, Jee’s son, evokes his father’s shame when he refuses to join the Army.

I won’t go into any more detail about the movie in case there are those who would like to watch it, but suffice it to say, I found myself wholeheartedly agreeing with Brown about the quality of the movie. He made Bigfork proud.